


Shards

by najio



Category: RWBY
Genre: (and also Summer now that I think about it), (it's Pyrrha), Canonical Character Death, Daemons, Gen, Trans Male Character, but the rules are a bit different, heavily inspired by His Dark Materials, implied future bumbleby, kind of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-18
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:00:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27619397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/najio/pseuds/najio
Summary: Every person has a fragment of their aura in the shape of an animal companion. What are they? Where do they come from? What makes them stay with their humans? That's not the question. The question is, why do some of them leave?
Comments: 18
Kudos: 45





	1. Antlers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the last of the short-to-medium-length fics that I'm scooting over from FFN. All that's left is one long one, which I'll probably wind up doing chapter by chapter a few times a week. And then I will return to the abyss from whence I came and maybe eventually manage to finish something new in this hell year where motivation goes to die. :)
> 
> Also, I'm gonna stick a list of Shards in the end notes of each chapter, just for reference.
> 
> Anyways, hope y'all enjoy!

The girl in the corner is completely and strikingly alone. She has a book in her hand, but nothing is sitting beside her. Nothing is perched on her shoulder. Nothing is curled up in her lap.

Behind Yang, Aegis whuffs.

"Easy. Let her get used to you before you jump all over her." He stares back at her, and she flushes. "I mean, as used to you as anyone gets." Most shards are smaller than their people. Her grizzly bear... isn't. People are staring at him more than the girl without a shard.

Which makes sense. Most of them probably figure she has an insect or a mouse tucked away in her pocket. But she doesn't look like the type, and Yang knows that not everyone has a shard. Sometimes they die, like her dad's duck Harbor. Sometimes they leave. The raven named Slán-Eág who lives in their house doesn't belong to Uncle Qrow.

Yang knows he and her dad both hate people gawking at them. So she smiles, and drags Ruby over to the girl who's sitting so alone, and doesn't ask where her other half is. She likes to think Blake appreciates the break.

* * *

Three days later, the morning after her talk with Ruby, Weiss finds out she and Paean are strange.

It starts when he picks a fight with Aegis. He's an albatross, which means he's gigantic for a bird—his wingspan is wider than she is tall, and standing he comes nearly to her waist. That doesn't mean he should go around antagonizing bears.

"Stop. Here." She snaps her fingers at him, and he reluctantly backs off from where he was flaring his wings in an attempt to intimidate a bemused Aegis. He settles into his usual place, standing with his right side pressed against her left.

Weiss is a little worried Yang might push the issue, but she just laughs. "You know, for an oversize duck he's pretty vicious.

"He's an _albatross,_ thank you very much," she says primly. "And yes, he can be... aggressive." Seeing an opportunity to build a better rapport with her team, she jokes, "I used to be terrified of him when I was little." After all, Yang has a bear and Ruby a wolf—surely they can relate.

All three of her teammates stare at her.

"...What?"

"But... he's your shard." Ruby glances at Paean, who chooses this moment to go back to flapping his wings at Aegis.

"Even if he is kind of an asshole," adds Yang.

"Excuse you," Weiss snaps. "Paean is perfectly lovely."

Paean lets out a menacing hiss.

"And you can't seriously be telling me you were never worried about living with a grizzly bear that can ignore your aura."

The staring intensifies.

"Your aura doesn't protect you from your shard," Weiss says slowly, baffled that they've all apparently gone their entire lives without noticing.

Blake's eyes narrow. "How do you know that?"

Weiss always assumed it was common knowledge. Suddenly self-conscious under all the stares, she turns and busies herself with her desk. "He doesn't do it anymore. And it's not as if he mauled me, he's a bird. He just pecked me sometimes when he was annoyed."

She decides not to mention it was when Paean stopped biting her that she realized something was very, very wrong.

* * *

"Is it just me," Jaune asks at breakfast one morning, "or do Ren and Nora's shards not really _fit?"_

Everyone stares at him. He's suddenly glad he chose to say this now, when Ren has a cold and the two of them are staying in for the day. Two extra pair of eyes would be a lot, on top of the five he already has to deal with. Nine if he counts the shards.

"Jaune..." He can tell from her tone that Pyrrha's about to have to break something super obvious to him. His only hope is that it won't be quite as bad as the pickle incident. (Though, seriously, how was he supposed to know they used to be cucumbers?)

"No, no." Yang grins. "I wanna hear this. Are you saying a praying mantis doesn't fit Nora?"

Jaune shifts nervously in his chair. "I mean... Still obviously loves her and everything. It's just that he's always so... uh, still. I mean he hangs out her shoulder a lot, which is super cute, but I guess I figured her shard would have more energy."

"Like a grasshopper," Weiss says flatly. There goes his hope of not looking stupid in front of her. _Again._

"Well... yeah?"

"Uh, Jaune?" Ruby at least has the decency to look embarrassed for him. "Still is female."

"Bwuh?"

"Because she's Ren's," Blake cuts in. "And Shimmer is Nora's."

"But..." Jaune looks around helplessly. "They don't—they're always—"

"Sometimes shards find somebody else they like better," Yang says. It sounds like it's supposed to be a joke, but her tone is off and it falls flat. "Seriously, though, can we talk about this essay? It's due in two days and that's how many words I've got."

* * *

Weiss shrieks and leaps out of her chair. Her foot lands just wrong on a stack of books, and she topples over sideways and cracks the side of her head against Blake's bed. Ruby yelps and falls out of hers, drawing an alarming groan from the ropes holding it up. The bathroom door bangs open, revealing Yang wearing a towel and wielding a bottle of shampoo like an improvised mace.

But it's Paean who's ready for a fight. He hisses and mantles his wings, his eyes narrowed as he glares down the threat.

"Uh, Weiss?" Yang leans against the doorframe. "What's going on?"

"It's fine," she grumbles. "There's just..."

A buzzing sound, and the _tink-tink-tink_ of a tiny armored body striking the window.

"Oh." Yang shoots a longing glance towards the shower and sighs. "Okay, okay, we'll get it out."

Aegis lumbers towards the window, sniffing suspiciously. Then he rears up and roars, a paw flying to his nose. The wasp darts across the room, making Ruby squeak as it dives past her. It misses Blake by only a hair. She flinches away, half closes her book and raises it to shield herself—

Paean lunges. His beak snaps shut, and the wasp finally goes still.

Yang whistles. "Not bad for a goose."

_"Albatross."_

"Are you sure you're okay?" Ruby asks. "You look kinda rattled."

"It's fine. I just... _really_ don't like wasps."

* * *

Seven years earlier, Weiss learned that shards could be stolen.

She sat in Father's office, her ears ringing as he shouted things she didn't care about. All her attention was on the arctic fox lying at his feet, his dark eyes half-lidded. Indifferent.

In the corner of the room there sat a jar. Weiss didn't look at it.

_Tink-tink-tink—!_

Years passed. Paean dulled. He stopped fighting her. He stopped fighting at all.

As vicious as he was, he was hers. She'd rather die than let him turn into Torpor. So she grabbed him and shouted at him until he did something, _anything._ There's still a little scar on her thumb. Then she buried her face in his downy feathers and whispered, "Don't go."

He pressed their foreheads together—a silent, sacred vow.

* * *

There was a time when Torpor was bright-eyed and curious, when mother would gather him into her lap and let them pet him while he wagged his fluffy tail. According to Winter, anyway—Whitley doesn't remember that.

He does remember the day Winter had to explain to him that he isn't Father's shard. It was the same day his ermine Echo took to burrowing herself into his shirt pocket, curling into a warm ball against his chest.

She's always been like that. Timid. He used to think it was just her shape. When he looked it up, he found out real ermines can hunt prey many times their size. They're fierce little things, and Echo is not.

It doesn't matter. What use would it be for her to be fierce? She's not big like Paean—as much as he likes to tell Weiss that he's a glorified seagull, he could probably swallow Echo whole if he wanted to. Then there's Levee, Winter's stallion, who could take on a full squad of Atlesian soldiers by himself. Even he is nothing compared to their grandfather's infamous polar bear.

He doesn't remember Anemoia, of course, since he never met his grandfather. He's only seen pictures of her, towering over the armored figure beside her. She broke a record after Nicholas died—it took more than two weeks for her to fade away, the longest recorded half-life of any shard. But that's not why people know about her.

Her temperament changed when his grandfather died. Most shards that linger too long get a little savage, but they never attack the family of their human. Never... except for Anemoia. Father would have been killed if mother hadn't stopped her. It took a full team of Hunters to lock her away.

Whitley suppresses a shiver. He loves Echo—but sometimes he wonders what it would be like if she was strong.

* * *

Sun is open, friendly, and curious. A bit of a dork, really, but the way he wears it on his sleeve makes it more charming than any suave act could be. Blake's spent far too much time puzzling over his complete lack of mystery. He's not hiding anything... it's just that his monkey shard is so _odd._

Every so often she spots Joy exploring Beacon's campus, with Sun somewhere off in the distance or, stranger still, nowhere to be found. Even when she's alone, she's easy around other people in a way Blake's never seen before. Sometimes she goes as far as letting her run a hand through her golden fur. She wishes she wouldn't. It's too tempting to close her eyes for an instant and pretend—

Distances. She was thinking about distances.

Neptune and his shard spend a lot of time apart, too. At first glance Blake thinks he's like her. _(But he isn't, is he? He didn't let it happen.)_ He seems to read that in their expressions and lets out a long-suffering sigh. "Fathom's in my dorm. She's an octopus, so... kinda can't cart a fish tank everywhere I go."

Blake would. She'd carry it on her back if only she could be close to him again.

Some people might psychoanalyze this kind of thing. Blake might even be one of them, if it wasn't for the fact that Weiss is the first person she would've expected to be distant with their shard. Paean never wanders, though—it's rare to see them more than a foot or two apart, and when they walk he stays so close that his wings brush against her calves, like he's afraid to stop touching her.

Besides. It's obvious to anyone who cares to look that it's security, not distance, that lets Joy roam. She always comes back to him in the end.

* * *

They don't come back.

Yang's never studied shards or anything, but her life to date has been a thorough crash course in how and why they disappear. Mostly, she learned that they never do it when you're expecting it.

Phobos was half Slán's size, and twice as terrifying. Not because he'd ever hurt them—he was a sweetheart, but their dad made the mistake of telling them that true shrikes hunt by impaling their prey on thorns. He didn't fit Summer very well, but they loved him anyway. From his sharp claws to his fierce beak to the bold black band across his eyes.

Dad's duck Harbor flew out with Summer on her missions. Phobos stayed behind, sitting on Yang and Ruby's heads like a tiny guardian angel. They all knew something was wrong the day he got sick. The same day dad stopped dead in the middle of the kitchen and fell to his knees, gasping and clutching at his chest. The same day they spent in the hospital while doctor after doctor told them it wasn't a heart attack, that there was nothing wrong with him.

There was definitely something wrong with Phobos. Feathers scattered all over the house, and he shrank into a packet of skin and bones and the last scraps of down. Even the black mask wilted away. By the time Qrow came to tell them, dad definitely knew. Yang thinks she might have, too. Only Ruby was young enough that it didn't sink in.

Yang expected Phobos to gutter out like a candle in the instant she heard the fatal words. But he just let out a weak little chirp and fluttered into Qrow's hands.

Two days later, she tickled him under the beak before stepping into the shower. He was gone when she got out.

* * *

A frenzy of barking brings Pyrrha to the window in a rush, her heart pounding—and in a single glance, it melts.

Flicker charges across the green. Then he leaps, pouncing on a tiny dark streak and rolling over and over on the lawn. Zwei lands on top, his hindquarters wiggling, and lets out a happy bark. The source of most of the noise jumps on both of them, until the three are in a heap of wagging tails and tangled fur.

Elixir pants happily from the top of the pile, her ears perked up tall and her golden fur shining in the sun. Pyrrha looks around, and finally spots Jaune and Ruby off to the side, leaning on one another to stay upright while they laugh.

There's a pang of resentment in her gut.

Kismet lifts his head and rumbles his concern. "Nothing," she tells him, forcing a smile. "I'm just being silly." He snorts and gives her a playful swat. She grins, and this time it's genuine.

"Looking forward to sparring today?"

His emerald eyes light up. Lithe muscles ripple under striped orange fur, as a shiver of excitement runs down the length of his body. For years he's had to sit and watch on the sidelines—he's a textbook example of why shards are banned from taking part in tournaments with their people. After all, it would be something of an unfair advantage to have a tiger on her side.

In Beacon, he's matched with another shard in roughly the same weight class. Which, in practice, is always Yang's Aegis. Or, sometimes, he helps the smaller shards practice. Shimmer and Still, for instance, are too small to be any use in combat no matter how much training they get. Instead they practice dodging and evading, while Kismet plays the Grimm.

It's wonderful, but she'll never forget the thrill of initiation. No sparring with him looking on, no simultaneous duels with different opponents. They fought together, weaving in and out of one another's attacks, basking in the feeling of completeness. She can't wait to do it again.

* * *

Blake is happy, and it's so, so wrong.

She doesn't mean to let herself. It's just so easy to lose herself in a book, with her back to her favorite tree on Beacon's lawn, and forget. And in the instant she forgets, Joy will hang down from the upper branches and chatter at her. Sometimes she'll hop to the grass and wobble around like she's drunk, just to make Blake laugh.

The dorm is worse. She always feels him there before she sees him—the weight of his head settling on the mattress, his nose pressing against her side. Then when she looks down Aegis blinks his big brown eyes at her, and she can't help it. Her hand comes down between his ears, and he leans into the touch, and—

_Stop._

He's not hers. How much of a monster must she be to want to take him, after everything Yang's told her about her mother, and her family's lost shards? She won't. She won't do that.

But the thing about deciding to stop petting a grizzly bear is that she doesn't actually get a choice.

"Aegis!" She tries to move away. He throws one of his gigantic paws over her back. His fur is warm and coarse and smells like a home she doesn't deserve to come back to.

A boot nudges his nose. It's Yang's. "C'mon, you big jerk. We talked about this."

Across the room, Ruby giggles. "Sorry Blake. He gets clingy sometimes."

Flicker yips and jumps on top of them both, panting happily and getting his fluff all over her shirt. Paean sticks his beak in the air... but he keeps sneaking glances.

Yang sighs and hauls the wolf off her by the scruff. Ruby grabs him in a hug to keep him from jumping on them again, laughing as his wagging tail whips her across the face. But if Aegis doesn't want to move, there's no use trying to pick him up. So Yang kneels down and leans close, and whispers something in his ear that Blake isn't supposed to hear.

"It's not about what _you_ want."

* * *

"No," Yang snapped.

A dark shadow swept down and landed on her shoulder, his feathers shining purple-black wherever the sun touched them. She grimaced and brushed him off. He fluttered to the ground.

She turned and walked away. But when she glanced down again, he was strutting along behind her, his head bobbing with every step. "Shoo," she said, and nudged him with her boot. His feathers fluffed up indignantly.

It was the morning she and Ruby departed for Beacon—her sister and her dad and all their luggage were already well on their way in his old truck. She should have followed them on Bumblebee ten minutes ago.

Slán-Eág quorked and hopped to her shoulder. Yang picked him up and tossed him into the air. "Go home!"

He landed on top of her head.

"You little—" Her hair was thoroughly mussed by the time she managed to push him back to the ground. "I have Aegis. I'll be fine."

Slán flew onto her shard's back. Aegis narrowed his eyes and snarled a warning.

"I said, _go!"_

When he still didn't move, Aegis reared up onto his hind legs and roared. He came crashing down with all the force he could muster, sending Slán flapping back to the safety of the trees.

"Dad needs you, asshole! Qrow needs you! I don't need you and I don't want you, so _go! Home!"_

She turned away, so she didn't see him fly off—she just heard the sound, and this time when she glanced back there was just a feather lying in the grass. Yang didn't pick it up.

As she lies on her back and stares up into the dark, Yang wonders if Slán felt like this when she told him to go away. And as consciousness dissolves and the thoughts she tries not to have seep in through the cracks, she wonders if this is how her mother felt before Slán decided _he_ didn't want _her._

* * *

Kismet takes no interest in the Vytal Tournament.

Pyrrha shouldn't be surprised—he's always chafed under the tournament restrictions that force him to watch from the sidelines while she fights. But he used to watch her matches with keen attention, his tail flicking back and forth, roaring whenever she scored a hit.

He spends their whole first match pacing, his green eyes fixed on a point somewhere in the distance. Ignoring her entirely.

Pyrrha can't help looking at the other contestants' shards. She's relieved to see he's not the only one who's restless. Most are excited and engaged, like Flicker and Elixir, who bark and howl and jump around outside the arena all through the match as if cheering their humans on, but quite a few react poorly to the new setup.

Still and Shimmer are both among them. They're willing to be quite far from their own humans if need be, but Still keeps trying to climb up Nora's leg, and twenty minutes after the match they find Shimmer stowed away in Ren's pocket. She's surprised to find that the same is also true of Paean, who flatly refuses to leave his perch on Weiss' shoulder until Aegis lets him sit on his back.

Others are conspicuous by their absence. Blake is unrepresented—but that hardly raises an eyebrow when Mercury's team walks out with only a single shard between them.

* * *

One shard visible, that is.

Devotion hasn't left Cinder's side in years, and he isn't about to start now. No one sees him crawl up the back of her neck, where he's completely invisible under her hair. And what would it matter if they did? He's only a spider, no larger than a fingernail, useless in a fight. He's not even venomous.

He doesn't need to be. He's a good scout, and an even better guarantee of Emerald's good behavior.

* * *

An old man stands alone in his tower. Gears tick overhead.

An old woman stands alone in her castle. Many floors beneath her, scarlet wings beat against the bars of a cage.

In the hold of an airship on its way to Beacon, there is another cage. A single gold eye opens.

Far below the old man, a stag lies in a makeshift bed of blankets. He stirs, presses his nose weakly against a pane of glass, and falls still.

* * *

The crowd is screaming. Kismet thrashes on the sidelines, snarling and snapping at thin air. His human stands there. Motionless. Numb.

There's a screech overhead. Penny's auburn-feathered owl Heartspring tucks in his wings and dives. No one is looking at him—they are preoccupied with the thing on the floor. The dead body, or the broken machine, depending on who you ask.

Ruby never needed to ask. She wouldn't, even if it weren't for the proof of Penny's soul that comes sweeping down and crashes into her, cheeping his fright and burying his face against her chest.

She cradles him close. Flicker throws his head back and howls their grief and fear, and it's like the world was waiting for his signal to erupt into chaos. A Nevermore crashes into the center of the arena, and Pyrrha still doesn't move. Heartspring lets out another screech and takes to the wing. Ruby follows. She knows what he wants—what Penny would want.

They fight, and the Nevermore dissolves. Ruby's shoulders slump, the weight of all that's happened and all that's still happening dragging her down now this first danger is past—

But it isn't.

Kismet snarls and roars, his ears pinning flat against his skull. Ruby looks wildly around for the enemy. Did another Grimm get into the stadium?

A cry from behind her. Kismet is crouched low, his teeth bared, growling at Pyrrha. There's a row of shallow scratches on her jaw, and blood on his claws.

"Stop it!" Ruby jumps between them. "What are you doing?"

Flicker tugs at her cloak. She turns—and it's only looking at Pyrrha that she realizes. Ruby drops Penny's sword and wraps her in a hug.

Jaune kneels in front of Kismet. "The woman on the microphone," he says. "She did this. It's not Pyrrha's fault."

Slowly, the wildness drains out of his eyes. He rubs his head against his human's shoulder, and even nuzzles apologetically at the scratches on her face. With him calm, Ruby looks for Heartspring—but he's already gone.

An auburn speck vanishes unremarked over the northern horizon.

* * *

Beacon's ballroom is a cavernous space, with a high vaulted ceiling, gigantic windows, and a vast stretch of empty floor meant to be filled with laughing, dancing bodies. How small and alone it makes the two of them seem.

How small and alone Blake feels, when Adam pushes her back towards the wall. The horror of it threatens to swallow her— _where is he?_ —but she can't give in yet. Not when he's just as alone as she is.

His sword lashes out. The collar of his jacket shifts with the movement, revealing the start of a dark bruise on his neck. It looks old—and there's only one creature alive that could give him a wound his aura won't heal.

"Blight," she gasps between desperate parries.

His face twists. In one smooth motion he tears the jacket open, tugging his shirt down to real more of the damage. Below his collarbone, his skin is an ugly greenish-yellow. "You did this. She hit me, but it's your fault."

Her eyes widen, and she stumbles away from him. "Adam... what did you _do?"_

He doesn't answer. Bile rises in her throat. He's vile, like this—torn in half by his own choice. They're a matching pair.

"Where is he?"

Adam laughs and attacks her again. This time her weapon slips between her fingers, and in an instant she's on her back on the ground and he's sneering down at her. "Since when do you care?"

"Did you kill him too?" Her voice breaks.

"No."

A voice calls out from somewhere nearby. He jerks his arm and the sword plunges into her stomach, pinning her to the ground like a butterfly to a card.

He leans close to whisper in her ear, "I'm going to destroy everything you love. And when I do?"

Yang reaches the window and screams her name.

"He'll be mine."

* * *

An airship emblazoned with the White Fang insignia goes down when one of the Atlesian ships veers off course and smashes into it. The larger ship makes it through relatively unscathed, with Torchwick swearing and jabbing random buttons at its console. The smaller one crashes nose-first into the lawn, on the opposite side of the campus from the ballroom.

At the heart of the wreckage, metal beams start to shift. A black paw reaches out into open air.

* * *

A long time ago, Cinder Fall sold her soul.

No. She is not weak. She does not regret it. She will remember it as it was. She will remember that it—

A long time ago, Cinder Fall was given a creature that was half weapon, half parasite. She knew the price. Hecatomb knew, too. He agreed to it. And if he thrashed and struggled in the end, what does that matter? She screamed too. That doesn't mean she wanted it to stop.

She has a new shard, now. A beetle. And it _—_

A long time ago, Cinder Fall had a viper. He was beautiful and deadly, his sleek scales banded with black and yellow and red, like embers in charcoal. Salem told her what would happen to him, and he wound himself around her throat. If he really wanted to live, he could have squeezed. But he only coiled close to the heat of her body and waited for the end without a hint of fear.

Of course he did. Hecatomb never looked afraid. His snake's eyes stayed flat and cool and calm, even as the beetle ate him alive.

* * *

Qrow Branwen descends from Beacon tower with Ruby in his arms. There's a small crowd waiting for him—Flicker bounds forward and jumps on him, licking her dangling fingers. Weiss stands deathly still, a strange ringing in her ears blocking out everything except her partner's steady breathing.

Jaune looks for the others who should be coming down. Any second now. At his feet, Elixir sniffs the air and whimpers.

"He's waiting for you," Qrow says. "At the top. I'd have brought him down, but..."

Weiss makes a spiral staircase for him with her glyphs. He walks up in a daze, clutching Elixir against his chest. She's crying softly, but his eyes are dry—it's not real to him yet. Nothing is real. The world just ended, and he's walking into the sky, but it's Pyrrha. She'll be there.

Kismet is alone at the top of the tower. His chest is heaving and his emerald eyes are glazed over. There's blood matting the fur on his flank. A pair of curved antlers jut out from his forehead, stained red from when they burst free of his skull. Jaune can't speak. He can't move. He doesn't know what to do.

Elixir does. She squirms out of his arms and skids to a stop beside Kismet. He tries to lift his head to greet her, but all the strength's gone out of him and the antlers weigh him down. So she crouches low and gently touches her nose to his.

Jaune falls to his knees and gathers the tiger's head into his lap. He's breathing harder, now, his tongue lolling out as he pants through the pain.

"I'm so sorry," he murmurs, stroking his ears and neck. He doesn't know if he should touch the antlers, or if that would only hurt him more. Kismet groans and shuts his eyes. His breathing starts to slow.

"You're beautiful," Jaune tells him. Tears finally come, wetting the tiger's brow. "And strong, and kind, and brave... and I don't... I can't..."

There's an instant where Kismet shines crimson with the last of her aura—like the sun just before it sets, the leaves just before they fall. Then Jaune's hands close on thin air, and he breaks down completely. Elixir crawls into his lap, soft and warm and _wrong,_ it should still be Kismet there, he wasn't ready...

Jaune kneels at the top of the broken tower for a long time, sobbing into his shard's golden fur.

* * *

When Father comes for her, Paean screams like he's dying.

 _"No!"_ Weiss shouts. Not at Father—what would be the point?—but at her shard. She doesn't know what she means. She can't tell which of them is trying to tear them apart, so there's no way of knowing if she's begging him to stay or to go.

Maybe he obeys her, or maybe he abandons her, but he stays where he is. When she gets in the airship without him, she thinks Father might be pleased. She doesn't want to know why.

* * *

Two hours later, another airship departs from Beacon—heading first to the safe zone in Vale, and then to the island of Patch with its last handful of passengers. Then they, too, are gone, and the ship is empty except for its pilot and crew. They're just about to lock up and head into town for the night when they hear a quiet _thump_ coming from outside. One guard rushes out to look, but there's nothing there.

They're tired. They shrug it off and assume they're all just being jumpy.

A shadow sniffs the air, then slinks down an alleyway. Heading straight for the woods.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby: Flicker the wolf  
> Weiss: Paean the albatross  
> Blake: --  
> Yang: Aegis the bear  
> Jaune: Elixir the golden retriever  
> Nora: Shimmer the grasshopper  
> Pyrrha: Kismet the tiger  
> Ren: Still the praying mantis


	2. Yellow Eye

Ruby wakes up with an albatross sitting on her chest.

She blinks. The bird blinks back.

"Paean?"

There's no time to wonder about him. Flicker leaps onto the bed and starts licking her face, making Paean squawk and flap his wings. Ruby squirms under their combined weight as white feathers buffet her face.

"Okay, okay. Let's not drown her," says a familiar voice. Her dad grabs Flicker by the scruff and tugs him back down to the floor. He puts his paws up on the bed and shoves his nose into her side, right where she's most ticklish. She jumps and laughs and spits out a handful of downy feathers.

Then her gaze focuses on her dad, and Uncle Qrow sitting next to him, and her smile vanishes.

"Pyrrha..."

Her father's eyes soften, and he breaks the news. There's a lot of it to break.

When he's finished, Ruby sits up. Paean shuffles so that he's huddled in her lap and bumps his beak against her. She pets his head. "What are you doing in here, anyway? Where's Weiss?" She looks up, half-expecting to see her partner framed in the doorway.

"Atlas."

Ruby almost laughs—it's that ridiculous. Paean wouldn't even sit on the perches installed behind all their desks at Beacon, because that was too far away. He'd huddle in Weiss' lap instead, and hand her pens out of her bag with his beak, and sometimes poke Ruby when she stopped paying attention...

He coos and buries his head under her arm. Ruby's mouth drops open. "But you can't! Weiss needs you!"

Qrow sighs and ruffles her hair. "That's not how it works, kiddo. You can't force them to go home."

She looks around—but Slán isn't in this room, and Qrow's shard is somewhere far, far away.

"Why me?" she whispers, after her dad and uncle leave the room. Paean opens one eye to look at her, then closes it again. He huddles in the crook of her arm. Shivering.

"I'll give you back," she promises. He's already asleep.

* * *

"I see you've decided to follow the family tradition."

Weiss turns. Her brother's expression is mild, maybe a little smug, but she doesn't miss the way his left hand strays to his breast pocket.

"He's coming back."

Whitley raises an eyebrow. She realizes how pathetic she must sound, from his point of view, and there's another flicker of doubt. The same feeling she gets whenever she catches a glimpse of Torpor.

Weiss retreats from his stare into the safety of her room and sits down heavily on her bed. There's a sharp ache between her ribs. She reaches instinctively for Paean, but he's half a world away. Her eyes close.

He's with Ruby. She must have woken up by now—maybe she's playing a game on her scroll, flat on her back with her legs in the air like she used to at Beacon. And Paean might be sitting on her stomach, poking his beak over the screen to make her pay attention to him. He always used to do that to Weiss whenever she spent too much time working. Then she'd scold him and tell him to stop distracting her.

Is that why?

"Miss Schnee?"

Weiss snaps back to reality. Her hand is fisted in her blankets, white-knuckled. It takes a moment to relax and let go. She gets to her feet and opens the door. "Hello, Klein."

He hasn't seen her since she got back. She glances away from his face, because she doesn't want to watch it dawn on him. "Oh, Snowflake..."

"He's not gone." Klein's hesitation hurts a lot more than Whitley's. Weiss pretends not to notice. "Could... could you not tell mother? I don't want her to try and help."

"Are you certain? She knows what you're—"

"It's different." Weiss may doubt everything else, but this much she knows absolutely.

Reluctantly, Klein nods. He backs up a few steps, looks down, and jerks his head towards her. For an instant she's confused. Then Hestia comes padding around the corner and through the doorway, her head canted to one side. She's a Mantle shepherd, and one reason Weiss has such a soft spot for dogs. Now she can't look at her without remembering Flicker and Elixir and Zwei chasing each other around the courtyard. It'll be a happy memory, someday when it doesn't hurt so much.

Klein turns to go. Hestia stays right where she is, her tail wagging. Weiss' breath catches. "I can't—"

He pauses in the doorway and gives her a sad smile. "You need her more than me for tonight, miss. Your mother had bad nightmares."

That night, Weiss dreams she's sitting on a rug while a blond man she doesn't know bustles around in a kitchen she's never seen. It would be frightening, except that he has kind eyes and a familiar smile. When she wakes, there's no jolt of adrenaline—only an aching sense of loss and a furry body curled up at her feet.

The next night, she doesn't dream at all.

* * *

Days pass, and Aegis loses weight. He ambles around the house with his nose almost touching the floor, until one afternoon he lies down in the hallway and doesn't get up.

"C'mon boy." Tai pats his nose, and his eyes blink open. "That's it. How about we go upstairs and get Yang to eat something? Huh?"

The bear whuffs into his palm and shuts his eyes again. Which leaves Tai with a problem, because Aegis is still heavy and he sure as hell doesn't want to carry him out. But he'd also kind of like to be able to get to his bedroom.

He turns to look for Qrow, maybe get him to help, and freezes in place. Slán is staring at them from his perch by the kitchen table, his head cocked to one side. He flutters over to them, then nuzzles his beak against the bear's flank. The instant he registers the touch, Aegis takes a vicious swipe at him.

"Hey!" Tai shouts, and snatches the raven up in his arms. "That's enough."

Slán quorks and pokes his head out between Tai's fingers. He sighs and moves into the kitchen. "It's probably better if you leave him alone," he says, and puts the bird back down on his perch.

"Alone," Slán-Eág tells him.

Tai shivers. "You can be a real creep sometimes, you know that?"

* * *

Ruby creeps through the house as silently as she can, with a rucksack slung over her shoulder. Flicker already snuck outside—wolves are pretty good at sneaking. Ruby, on the other hand, has a bird the size of a toddler sitting on her head. He keeps almost losing his balance and flaring his wings to keep from falling off, instead of just, y'know, flying ahead of her.

"Paean," she whispers. "Be cool!"

He cranes his neck upside-down to look at her.

"And quit judging me!"

Out the door. Ruby lets out a little sigh of relief, then jumps and yelps when Flicker pushes his wet nose into her hand. Paean chirps and hops down onto his back, which is a real mercy for her aching neck.

Jaune and his team meet her a little ways down the road. Elixir perks up a little, though she doesn't wag her tail and bark like she might have back in Beacon. Instead she walks up to Flicker and presses her muzzle into his side. Paean coos at her.

"Are we ready?" asks Ren.

"Yeah." Ruby risks a glance over her shoulder and winces. She has to do this, but—

Somewhere in the distance, a twig cracks.

"What was that?" Jaune reaches for his sword.

Whatever it is out in the woods, it gives up on being stealthy. It thunders along the forest floor, closer and closer, until they can see the disturbances it's making in the undergrowth. And then a gigantic shaggy brown shape bursts out of the undergrowth and the next thing Ruby knows she's flat on her back, looking up into the brown eyes of...

"Aegis?"

He whuffs at her.

Ruby tries for a grin. "So, um. Funny story. We were just... um..."

He lets her up, pausing only to nuzzle her head until her hair is sticking up in every direction. Then he ambles a few steps down the road and pauses, turning his head towards them as if waiting for them to follow.

Her heart sinks.

"We're not... we're not going shopping, Aegis. We're gonna go find out what happened at Beacon. And that means we need to go far away."

He cocks his head to one side, still waiting for her to get to the point.

"You—no, no, you _can't!"_

He sits down and continues to stare.

Ruby shoves him back towards the house, which completely fails to budge him an inch. "You big—stupid—jerk!" He grunts and wraps a paw around her. "Wha—no! Stop hugging me!"

Flicker whimpers and paws at the ground.

"Go. Back. To _Yang!"_ Ruby manages to get one arm free. She bops Aegis on the nose, and he rears back with an offended huff.

"Uh... Ruby?" Jaune glances nervously at Aegis. "Are we _sure_ we wanna pick a fight with a grizzly bear that has aura?"

"That's what he wants!" She gives his head a push. "He thinks he can—unh!—win every argument just by—hnn!—sitting there like a lump!"

"...Can't he, though?"

Aegis chortles.

"I don't get it." She gives the bear another shove, but her heart isn't really in it anymore. "Yang needs you. How could you just...?"

Aegis can't speak. And even if he could, she's not sure he'd give her an answer.

An idea sparks, breaking through her panic and dread. "Wait!" She turns to Flicker, who's put his paws up on Aegis' back. "You can stay with Yang, right? It'll be like... like a promise, that we'll see each other again soon!" It's just like the one mom and dad had made, where Harbor would go with Summer on missions and Phobos would stay home with them.

...That doesn't _necessarily_ mean it's a terrible idea, though. Right?

Flicker whines. His ears droop. And he hides his head behind Aegis' bulk.

"Come on!" Ruby vaults over the bear and wrestles him into her arms. He yips and squirms. "I can't take all of you! I _won't!"_

"Ruby..." Ren reaches for her shoulder. The instant she's distracted, Flicker wriggles free and sprints over to Aegis. The bear gets to his feet and sets off down the path, with the wolf padding in his footsteps and the albatross sitting on his shoulders.

"This isn't fair!" Ruby yells at their backs—but they don't pay her any mind.

* * *

The two hours it takes for Yang to notice that her soul is gone will haunt her for the rest of her life.

He's been avoiding her. She knows that much. So when he's not in her room and he's not downstairs and he's not anywhere in the house, she stumbles outside and turns in a circle. Is he in the woods? Where would he go?

It's dad who finds the note. Ruby left to save the world, and Aegis went with her. Of course he did. He was always the best part of her, and the best part of her will always protect her little sister. Yang will have to make do with whatever dregs are left.

Her world tilts. She can't breathe, and she thinks she might be shouting but she can't hear it. She can't hear anything. She can only feel that her throat is raw.

"—ng!"

Arms wrap around her. There's a fluttering sound, too, and the feeling of feathers against her cheek. Hot rage rips through her. Yang doesn't _want_ Slán. She's never wanted Slán. And dad and Qrow might need Slán, but it's not him they really want. If anyone ever wanted him, it's Raven. If anyone ever didn't want their own shard, it's Raven.

Maybe no one ever wanted him.

The next thing she knows, Yang is cradling his little body against her chest. Her dad kneels behind her, rocking her back and forth and stroking her hair. "I know," he murmurs. "I know it hurts."

Her mind goes blank. When she can think again, it's past midnight and she's on her back in the dark, staring at a ceiling she can't see because she knows what will happen when she closes her eyes. Aegis was the only reason she could stand to sleep.

Light spills in through the open window. Yang turns and catches a glimpse of the full moon through a break in the clouds. Something draws her towards it, heedless of the bite in the air. Her hand clenches on the windowsill. The forest is a black wall, with the tops of the trees standing out in stark silhouette and their trunks lost in shadow.

The hair on the back of her neck stands on end. There's no sign that anyone is there... but she can't shake the feeling that she's being watched.

* * *

Nora wakes up to a cold nose nudging her face.

"Hey buddy," she whispers, and wraps an arm around Flicker. "Bad dream again?"

He whines and burrows into her chest.

"Ren?" Nora reaches out to nudge him awake. "Can you—?"

He nods and moves over to Ruby's sleeping bag. One moment she's twitching and muttering. Then he touches her shoulder and she goes still, her breathing deep and even.

"Good boy."

"Thank you?"

Nora giggles. "I meant Flicker, but you're a good boy too, Ren."

"Ah." Ren sits cross-legged on her sleeping bag and pets Flicker's back. "Should you call him that? He's not exactly a dog."

"He is a precious pupper and I will hear no more slander against him!"

Flicker wags his tail.

"Look at this face. This is the face of a good boy." The wolf starts to squirm under the praise, his ears drooping. Nora hugs him tight. "Don't worry. She can't stay mad at you forever. I mean... you're her _soul."_

Ren hums. It's the kind of hum that means he doesn't agree with her, but he doesn't want to make it a thing. Nora makes it a thing. Mostly by poking him over and over until he finally asks, "Haven't you ever been angry with Shimmer?"

"Not really." She starts getting fidgety, and plays with Flicker's fur to settle the sinking feeling in her stomach. "Have you?"

"No. I've been furious with Still, though."

Nora stares at him. "But... why?"

Ren shrugs. "I suppose it's because I like you more than I like myself."

She can understand that, at least. "I like you more than I like me, too," she admits. "But I still don't get how you could get so mad at yourself that you don't want to talk to your shard."

"I never have been." He sighs and lies down on top of his sleeping bag, one arm tucked under his head. "But I don't know if I'd ever forgive her if she couldn't go to you when you needed her."

"...Oh."

Flicker lets out a pathetic little whimper. Nora gives him a squeeze. "It'll be okay," she promises. But she's not quite so sure anymore, and he notices. He slinks out of her arms and curls up on the cold ground.

On the opposite side of their little camp, the gigantic mound of brown fur stirs. Aegis snorts and nudges Paean awake. They put their heads together, almost like they're conferring. Then the albatross gently extricates himself from Ruby's arms and struts over to Flicker.

Aegis tightens his hold on the human. Paean drapes a wing over the shard. Both finally stop shivering in their sleep.

* * *

For the sixth night in a row, Yang wakes with a wrenching jerk. She lies there for a long while, gasping for air, getting used to the feeling of her body. She's always missing pieces in her dreams—but they're not always the same ones, and it always takes a minute to remember she still has her skin and her blood and her heart.

She's only missing her arm and her sister, her partner and her soul.

 _Breathe,_ she tells herself. But her head is spinning and it still feels just as raw as when she first lost him, and she _can't—_

A slight weight settles on her right shoulder. Slán rests his beak against her forehead, and Yang can breathe again. For a little while, at least.

It's still dark. And now that she's not fighting the nightmare anymore, she can feel a familiar tingling at the back of her neck. She whirls towards the window, just like she did last night, and the night before that, and the night before that. There's still nothing there... but this time, she's had enough.

Before Yang can think, her foot is already on the windowsill. Slán squawks at her. She pinches his beak shut and hisses, "Shh!"

He flutters his wings nervously.

"I'll be fine. You can stay here if you want."

But when she tucks a flashlight into her pocket and clambers outside, he hops after her. She's clumsy—this is far from the first time she's gone out this window, but it _is_ the first time she's done it one-handed. Instead of climbing down properly, she just lets herself drop and rolls when she hits the ground. It knocks a chunk off her aura, but she doesn't care.

Yang finds the head of the path and follows it. It's pitch dark under the trees, and rich with night sounds. An owl hoots somewhere in the distance. Something shuffles around in the undergrowth, and it's gone by the time she whips her light around to point at it. She can feel her own pulse on her tongue, like her heart's leaped into her mouth to choke her. Slán sits on her shoulder, wary but unruffled, until...

There's no sound to startle him—but without warning, he stiffens and flares his wings. Yang whirls around and raises her flashlight. Nothing there.

_It's not him._

She scans the nearby trees. Still nothing.

_Don't be stupid. Why would he be in Patch?_

"Who's there?" Yang straightens up, tries to reach the stance she used to fight in—but she's off balance, and her voice cracks, and _what if it is?_

There's a sound behind her. Like bumblebee's engine turning over, only deeper and richer. A sound that pierces right through her brain to that animal part that recognizes the growling of a predator. She turns, brandishing her light like a weapon, and comes face to face with the most beautiful, most terrible thing she's ever seen.

He's a panther—lithe and graceful, powerful and elegant. His fur is a deep, velvety black, tinged with violet where it catches her light. He crouches in the middle of the path, his ears flat, his face contorted into a snarl. One eye is a bright, fiery gold.

The other is gone. A scar bisects the place where it used to be, moving straight from his brow to the tip of his chin. There are more of them, too—on his chest, his legs, even his tail. Some are like the one on his face, thin and straight. Others look more like burns. All of them have healed ugly, gnarled and knotted and covered in wispy patches of fur. His bones jut beneath his skin at sharp angles, so pronounced she can count his ribs.

Yang drops her flashlight.

He flinches back. She can only see his silhouette, now, and the glimmer of light reflected in his good eye. It bores into hers as his growl becomes a hiss.

"It's you," she breathes.

Slán takes to the wing, vanishing into the canopy overhead. The panther snarls and swipes at the air like he's expecting an attack from above.

Slowly, gingerly, Yang lowers herself to her knees. "It's alright," she murmurs. "I won't hurt you."

He hesitates. Then he takes a tentative step forward, and she notices for the first time that he's favoring his right front paw. "Shh, that's it. Easy."

The panther sniffs the air, his ears tilting upwards. He's missing a chunk of the left one. Yang's chest aches. She reaches for him—

He bares his teeth at her and melts back into the forest.

* * *

On her sixth birthday, a girl named Zora opens a book about butterflies. It's a gift from her aunt, and full to bursting of colorful pictures and little blurbs about dozens of different species. As she flips through, her shard settles on the book's spine and flutters his beautiful orange wings.

She learns that he's a monarch. That they fly thousands of miles across Sanus every year for the winter, and you can tell a male butterfly by the two black spots on his wings. Zora squints at her shard. There are no spots to be seen.

Two years later, a boy named Zora has something to tell his aunt. His life doesn't change much, except that he enters an odd sort of limbo where he knows he wants a new name but has no idea what it should be. They're alike that way, him and his butterfly. If she has a name, she still hasn't told him.

She's restless, just like him, always moving. Like there's something out there, some great magnetic force that's drawing them in. Sometimes at night he pages through that same book, staring at the line that meanders across all of Sanus. In the dark, he can think it. He knows there will come a day that she travels her thousand miles, and he will follow her.

On that day, a boy named Oscar hears a voice that's not his own.

* * *

It takes almost two weeks... but eventually there comes a night when Yang creeps out her window and lands silently on the lawn, and a voice from behind her says, "Aren't you a little old for this?"

She yelps and almost trips over herself. Her dad is standing by the open front door, raising an eyebrow at her.

"God, dad, you scared the hell out of me."

"She says to her father, before wandering into Grimm-infested woods with one arm and zero weapons."

"It's fine. I've done it before."

"Funny how I don't find that reassuring."

Slán cheeps sheepishly from her shoulder.

"Oh, I'll get to you," dad says, wagging a finger at him. "But seriously Yang, go inside. _Sleep._ You can't get better if you don't take care of yourself."

"I can't." She glances towards the forest. "There's something I have to do in there."

He stares at her. "What could you possibly have to do in the middle of the woods at _midnight?"_

The panther feels like a ghost—and like a ghost, she's afraid that if she talks about him he'll disappear. "Please, dad... just trust me when I say I need this."

He's quiet for a while, an agonized look on his face. Then he sighs. "Don't go yet," he says, and disappears back into the house. Yang waits. A few minutes later he comes back out and tosses something at her.

She snags the left half of Ember Celica out of the air.

"You're getting better in sparring. I'll trust you to handle Patch Grimm with that, but _don't_ go out without it again. Got it?"

"...Yeah."

She's halfway to the forest when she notices Slán shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "Go on," she tells him. "You can go home now if you want. Dad knows where I am."

He hesitates, then bumps his head against her cheek and takes off. Yang enters the forest alone.

The panther is in the same place, in the same wary crouch. He didn't show up every night, at first—but he's been here the last four in a row, waiting for her. Yang sits down in her usual spot, waiting for him.

He limps forward. Paces a circle around her, pausing every so often to sniff her. Then, finally satisfied, he steps back. Yang sticks her hand out between them, palm-up, and holds her breath.

He might not. He didn't yesterday.

The panther presses his nose into her palm. She strokes his cheek, running her thumb gently along the scar, then moves to pet his head. He pads closer and lies down in her lap, relaxing into her touch, and begins to purr. The rumbling sinks into her bones, settling her heartbeat.

"What happened to you?" she whispers, as she traces the scars on his back. "How did you get here?"

He doesn't respond. She's not even sure if he's still awake. Maybe that's why she lets it out, the one question that's been burning in the back of her mind since before she met him.

"Did she leave you, too?"

His good eye snaps open. Yang goes still, terrified that she's just scared him off again—but he doesn't run. He stares at her for a long moment, his face inches from hers. Then he leans forward and presses their foreheads together.

* * *

Once upon a time, Yang was an awful sister. The kind that would carry a baby Ruby into the woods in a wagon and risk both their lives on the selfish chance she might catch a glimpse of her mother.

Qrow bailed them out, but what if he hadn't? The thought ate at her all night as she tossed and turned, until there came a timid knock at her door. When she opened it, Ruby was outside clutching a stuffed bird in her hands.

"Bad dream?"

Her little sister nodded.

"C'mere."

Ruby nestled herself between Yang and the bear, with her little wolf pup curled up at her feet. Her breathing slowed, and her face relaxed, and snakes of guilt coiled up in the pit of Yang's stomach.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I'm really, really sorry..." But sorry wasn't good enough, was it? How was she supposed to make up for this?

The bear watched her. She couldn't stand to look at him—he had to be so disappointed. He had to hate her. He had to want to leave her forever.

He didn't let her avoid his gaze. He moved so that his eyes were all she could see, so that her whole world was swallowed up in them. Then he pressed his nose to her temple.

Warmth bloomed in her mind. It came like a spark, the first beat in the heart of her hearth, deep and calm and unshakable. _Aegis._

Yang knew what she had to do.

* * *

This is not like that. The panther's touch is cool and dark as it bleeds into her, like ink sinking into paper. The smell of it washes over her. She is invisible and naked, hunted and alone, ferocious and stained.

He is Gloam, and she's just done something unforgivable.

* * *

Jacques Schnee sits motionless behind his desk. Torpor lies limply on the floor, his eyes closed. Nothing disturbs the stillness or the quiet.

_Tink-tink-tink—!_

Nothing.

He lost an asset today, which is unfortunate. Assuming Weiss was starting to come around now that she didn't have that damned bird at her heels was a mistake. He will not make such a mistake again.

_Tink-tink-tink—!_

_"Silence!"_ he snaps, slamming a hand down on his desk. The angry buzzing and the tapping of chitin against glass continues without pause. Jacques turns towards the jar on the shelf behind his desk.

Thrall slams against its side over and over and over again, her body flexing as she stings an imagined foe. Her thorax is connected to her lower abdomen by little more than a thin armored pipe, and the needle at the end of her body is half again as long as she is—marking her as a parasitic wasp.

He doesn't like to look at the jar. He hasn't touched it in over a year. But she must. Be. Quiet.

Jacques opens the safe behind his desk. When he closes it the room is silent once more, and he finally sees what he should have done a long time ago.

He summons Klein. When he arrives Jacques is perfectly composed, with Torpor relaxed and indifferent at his feet. "Your contract has been terminated, effective immediately," he tells the butler. "On your way out, tell Whitley to come to my office."

* * *

It's time.

Her stuff is packed. Her arm is painted. Gloam is getting restless, pacing through the house and roaring in the middle of the night.

So Yang fetches her motorcycle from the garage and her pack from her room. When she heads back outside, Slán is perched on Bumblebee's handlebars. She never thought a raven could look so heartbreakingly hopeful.

"I'm sorry," she tells him, and he hunches his shoulders until his head is buried in his fluff. "I have to find Ruby and Aegis now, and dad and Uncle Qrow don't have anyone to come back to. I need you to take care of them for me."

He touches his beak to her forehead, just once, and flies back to the house to perch on her father's windowsill. Yang swallows past the burning in her throat and looks down. Gloam meets her stare, his tail flicking back and forth. "Can you keep up?"

The panther tosses his head, as if to say, _please._ Yang grins at him and guns the throttle. She takes it easy at first. His leg has healed as far as she can tell, since he's stopped limping, but he's still skin and bones and she doesn't want him straining himself. But as he starts to run, he unfolds—muscles ripple under his fur, his ears tilt up into the wind, his good eye falls half-closed as he pushes himself faster and faster. He pulls ahead of her. She speeds up, and he matches her, and then they start to race.

There's something healing about running towards the ones you love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby: Flicker the wolf  
> Weiss: Paean the albatross  
> Blake: Gloam the panther  
> Yang: Aegis the bear  
> Jaune: Elixir the golden retriever  
> Nora: Shimmer the grasshopper  
> Pyrrha: Kismet the tiger  
> Ren: Still the praying mantis


	3. Beak and Claw

As if the world wasn't upside-down enough—it turns out that Weiss gives really good hugs. The kind that dangle her feet a couple inches off the ground.

"I missed you too," Yang murmurs. She gives Weiss a last squeeze and steps back so they can look at each other. Or rather, so she can look at the empty space where Paean should be. "How... how are you holding up?"

"Better than I expected, honestly. It's—" Weiss stops. Her eyes stop scanning the area around them and go wide.

Yang clears her throat. "They both went with Ruby. Paean and... and him, I mean."

Weiss gives her a second, even tighter hug. This one is interrupted halfway through when she yelps and leaps back, her hand going to her sword. "What on _Remnant_ is that?"

"Oh." Yang winces and glances over her shoulder. Gloam is crouched in the shadow of one of the tents, baring his teeth. "Yeah. Him." She beckons to him, but he only growls at her and stays right where he is. "Sorry. He's a bit skittish. I sorta... found him in the woods."

As she gets a better look at him, Weiss' expression softens. "Is he Blake's?"

"Yeah," Yang admits. "And before you ask, I have no idea how he ended up on Patch."

"Did she ever tell you his name?"

She phrased the question exactly right so that Yang doesn't have to lie. "No."

Does Blake know his name? Just how awful is it, this thing Yang's done without meaning to?

No time to worry about it. Raven is waiting.

They talk, and then it's Yang who's waiting. She catches a flicker of motion in the corner of her eye. Black wings. The crow alights in the branches of a nearby tree, glaring them down with blood red eyes. She's smaller than Slán, without the ruff of feathers at her chest.

"Yang?" Weiss sounds alarmed. Yang realizes all of a sudden that there's a rock in her hand.

She doesn't know the bird's name, because Qrow doesn't talk about her. So her shout is wordless, and the stone strikes the trunk of the tree an instant before the shard takes off in a flurry of feathers.

"Yang!" Weiss grabs her arm. There's another rock in her hand. "Stop."

"Was that really necessary?" Raven's voice drawls. Yang looks around, but she can't see her mother anywhere. Only another black bird. A raven, this time. She might have thought it was Slán, except for the coldness of its stare.

An instant later, Raven is human again.

"I know you're angry about the bear, but taking it out on another shard is just childish."

"I'm not angry at Aegis. I'm angry at you."

"That still isn't Mallacht's fault."

"She left him."

"Of course she did. She hated him. Always used to tear up his arms when we were kids."

Weiss flinches.

"Trust me, Yang, he's better off without her. Most of us are."

"Open the portal."

"You're wasting your time. Once they go, they don't come back."

Yang is acutely aware of Gloam's gaze burning into her back. Worse, so is Raven. "You can't replace them, either. The sooner you accept that we're meant to be alone, the happier you'll be."

"Are you going to open the gate, or do we have to walk to Mistral? Either way, we're leaving."

Raven opens the gate.

* * *

A tray full of teacups shatters on the floor, but Ruby hardly notices. There was definitely supposed to be more warning than this before she saw her team again. A whole quest, even, with days and weeks for her to figure out what she's supposed to say.

Is this even real?

Aegis ambles past her and sits down at Yang's feet, yawning, like nothing ever happened. Leaving Ruby standing in a mess of broken pieces with Paean on her shoulder. She feels like she just got caught with a smoking gun.

"I'm... I'm sorry!" Ruby backs up a step and almost bumps into Flicker. She flinches away—she decided a while ago not to touch him, or talk to him, or even look at him until Aegis and Paean are home. And now they could be, except that Paean won't budge.

Yang takes a step forward. Ruby moves back. "I didn't mean to take him! I told him to go back, and he wouldn't, and I tried to make Flicker stay home but he wouldn't either and I—"

Strong arms wrap around her. "I love you. And you did the right thing. Both of you."

Aegis huffs, as if affronted that Yang thought he needed her to tell him so.

There's a moment Ruby thinks is perfect. But then she opens her eyes and Weiss is watching them from the doorway like she's not sure she's allowed to come closer, and stupid Paean still hasn't moved his bony bird butt.

Ruby opens her mouth to say something, but before she gets the chance a grey-brown blur shoots past her and knocks Weiss clean off her feet. She lets out a little yelp of surprise that breaks into a laugh as Flicker starts licking her face. His tail wags uncontrollably as he grabs her sleeve in his teeth, tugging her closer so that Ruby can pull her into the hug.

...Okay. Maybe she'll start talking to him again.

* * *

Oscar can't help smiling as he watches the reunion. His butterfly Daisy lands on his chest, just over his heart, her sunset wings opening and closing. He puts a hand over her, feeling suddenly self-conscious. Team RWBY's shards are all so... intimidating.

Honestly, he's been a little nervous to meet the human attached to the gigantic bear. And Paean might not _look_ very scary compared to Aegis, but his personality more than makes up for it. Then there's the _panther—_

Wait.

Where _is_ the panther?

He inches around the hug to where Qrow is looking on. "Um... is the panther yours?"

Qrow stares at him. "The what?"

Yang goes stiff. "Where'd he go?"

Horror dawns on Weiss' face. "He came through with us, didn't he?"

Before Oscar can blink, Yang is tearing down the hallway. "We gotta find him! If he's back with Raven—"

He jumps into the search, along with everyone else in their group. Weiss and Yang are both so frantic that they don't do a very good job explaining to everyone else what's going on, or whose shard this panther is. So Oscar is completely unprepared when he _does_ find him.

He's in the laundry room. Someone's already checked it, maybe more than once, but Oscar walks a little further in and starts shifting clothes off a high shelf, and all of a sudden there's a golden eye glaring at him. The panther snarls and lashes out. He yelps and throws himself backwards, cracking his head on the washing machine.

"Oscar?!"

Nora bursts through the door. The panther yowls and pounces at her, bearing her to the ground, then leaps off and streaks into the hallway. She lands elbow-first on Oscar, driving the breath out of him. By the time they untangle themselves and stumble out of the room, the commotion has moved to the kitchen.

The panther crouches under the dining table, hissing and spitting and slashing at the feet of anyone who comes near him. Elixir leaps into Jaune's arms, barking and howling in distress. Then there's a sound like, well, like a huge bear trying unsuccessfully to climb down the stairs. Aegis tumbles the last dozen steps, rolls to his feet, and charges towards the table.

Ren tries to get in his way, to stop the fight that's surely coming, only to be knocked to the side. Yang vaults over the banister and scrambles towards them, but before she can get close enough to try to restrain her shard, Aegis reaches the table and sticks his head underneath it. The panther touches his nose to the bear's. His hackles come down, and just like that it's over.

"Okay." Yang braces her hands on her knees and struggles to catch her breath. "Okay, everybody chill out for a second. He's not gonna hurt anyone, he's just scared."

"I feel kinda hurt," Nora says, rubbing her shoulder where the panther's claws tore holes in her sleeve.

Yang winces. "Sorry. I should've guessed he wouldn't be great with strangers."

"Is that...?" Ruby kneels down to get a better look.

"Yeah." Aegis gets on his stomach so he can crawl further under the table, and the panther presses himself against his side. One yellow eye peers out from the crook of the bear's foreleg. "He's Blake's."

"But... how'd you find him?"

"He showed up in Patch." Yang turns and shrugs helplessly at them. "Like I told Weiss, I have no idea how he got there."

In the instant her attention is diverted, Flicker scrambles forward and slides under the table. Ruby yelps and makes a grab for him, but she's too late to stop him from burrowing into the panther's other side. His ears shoot up in surprise, showing off the nick in one of them, but he doesn't attack. He only sniffs the wolf and settles back down again.

That's Paean's cue to flutter down onto the floor. He struts right through the whole crowd of bewildered humans, as if daring them to try and stop him, then settles himself daintily between the panther's front paws. Another cautious sniff, and the baleful yellow eye slides shut.

* * *

They take to calling the panther Gambol, after Blake's katana, because they don't know his name. Weiss is a little startled to find that Paean doesn't bother him—he's comfortable with all of team RWBY's shards, and doesn't mind JNPR's so long as they don't try to touch him.

Apart from one glaring exception, Gambol does not like humans. He spends most of his days lurking around the house, occasionally scaring poor Oscar half to death by jumping out of the shadows and darting off to some other hiding place. At night, he follows Yang into their room and curls up at her side.

Aegis has gone back to normal, as far as Weiss can tell. He's his usual touchy-feely self with her and Ruby, and to a lesser extent Qrow and Oscar and team JNPR. He's also taken it upon himself to act as Gambol's self-appointed guardian, and often brackets him on the other side while they sleep.

Flicker is acting strange, but a quick chat with Nora tells Weiss that it would be more accurate to say he _was_ acting strange, and he's not quite back to normal yet. He's just as affectionate, but a bit more cautious when it comes to Ruby, like he's not sure it'll be welcome. Weiss corners her partner as soon as she learns this, puts her hands on her hips, and says, "Stop it."

"Huh?"

"Flicker. You need to stop ignoring him."

"I am stopping!" Ruby says indignantly. Then she pales and adds, "I mean, what? Why would I do that? That's crazy."

"Stop faster, then."

"It's fine," Ruby insists. "I forgive him, mostly. It's just hard not to be mad at him."

Weiss glares at her.

"Okay, okay! I'll try harder."

"Good."

She's glad Flicker never went when Ruby told him to. It's one thing when a shard leaves of its own volition, and something very different when you push it away on purpose. That sort of thing leaves you vulnerable to pain and heartbreak.

And parasites.

Weiss turns on her heel and goes to find Paean—and try to figure out if she's being a hypocrite or not.

He's in the living room, watching intently as Yang fiddles with her prosthetic. "Hey," she says, and smiles at Weiss. "You're up kinda late."

Weiss checks the room, careful to note the corner where Gambol is curled up and sit on the opposite side of Yang and Aegis. Paean hops off her teammate's head and clambers into her lap.

"I'm getting worried," Yang admits, nodding to him.

She takes one look at his half-lidded eyes and smiles. "So was I."

Paean titters at them.

"You're right," Weiss tells him, smoothing the feathers at the crown of his head. "I need you to keep an eye on these idiots for me."

So that's what he does—always sticking close to someone like he used to, except that now he has Ruby and Yang and their shards and Gambol to consider, rather than just Weiss.

She's pretty sure Raven was right about Paean, that now he's gone he won't come back to her. But it's nothing like the horrible wrenching thing that happened to her mother. It only means Weiss will have to keep coming back to him, instead.

"I will," she whispers. "I promise."

* * *

The knock is soft. Nora stirs, blinking sleep out of her eyes, and sits up. Her vision is green and blurry, which turns out to be because Still is clinging to her face. She gathers her into her palm and goes to answer the door.

It's Yang, and she looks like she might be sick any second.

"Are you okay? Should I get Jaune?"

"No!" she blurts, and moves further down the hallway, gesturing for Nora to follow. So she does, all the way out into the yard. Gambol is there, pacing back and forth in the shadows. So is Aegis. He's sprawled on his belly in the middle of the field, his legs stretched out as far as they'll go, like he's pretending to be a rug. Whatever's eating Yang, he looks completely unbothered by it.

"Okay," Nora says, and places Still on her shoulder. "What's up?"

Yang hugs her arms around herself. "Promise you won't ask why I need to know."

"Promise."

"Did... did Still ever tell you her name?"

Nora's eyebrows shoot up. Yang winces, and—"Okay, look, I said I wouldn't ask so I'm not gonna, but I never promised I wouldn't react!"

"Is that a no?" Yang looks, if anything, even more nauseous than before.

"Nope! Still told me her name when we were kids, just like Shimmer told Ren."

Nora has never felt so calm before or since. The praying mantis sat cupped in her hands, staring into her until time seemed to slow down. Everything went quiet. Parts of herself she hadn't even realized were making noise went quiet. And in the heart of Ren's soul she found the surface of a lake, a great stillness that came alive when light danced and shimmered across it.

"They're a pair," she says, reaching up to stroke Still's head with her pinkie. "Just like us."

Whoops. Nora wasn't exactly trying to calm Yang down, she just got caught up in the memory, but she definitely didn't mean to freak her out even more. She's starting to hyperventilate. A lot.

"So... what's his name?" Nora asks, hoping maybe that'll break her out of her spiral.

Yang looks down. "I can't. If she wasn't the first, she has to be the second."

Nora grins. "See? You've only had the name a little while, and you're already taking good care of it."

* * *

Two days later, on Haven Academy's doorstep, Blake catches her first glimpse of Yang and goes slack. Her vision tunnels. This is too soon, she wasn't ready—

Oh.

_Oh._

"Yang, go!" Ruby shouts. And she's gone, and Blake is still reeling because she has a shadow. A familiar shadow.

When she returns, he's with her.

"Gloam," she chokes out, and stumbles forward. His fur is tufted and torn, his right eye is missing, and he's down to skin and bones, but he's hers. She'd know him anywhere.

He ignores her.

Yang reaches out to fold her into the hug, and Aegis bumps his nose against her shoulder. Flicker barks and runs in excited little circles until his paws slip out from under him and he plows into her side. Even Paean greets her, settling into her lap with his neck arched regally, inspecting her out of one eye as if to say, _It's about time._

Gloam melts into the shadows.

He was always like that. Eager to slip away and hide. Adam hated it. He wanted him to fight, to act the predator. He wanted...

Is Gloam still hers?

She has to know.

It's getting late. Everyone's exhausted, and Weiss is still wearing her bloodstained dress. So they decide to spend one more night in Mistral. Most of their group heads into their rooms to talk, and hopefully once the adrenaline wears off, to sleep.

Gloam doesn't. Blake searches the house from top to bottom, twice, before she finds him wedged under one of the couches in the living room. He growls when she notices him.

"I'm sorry," she whispers, and reaches out.

The next thing she knows she's flat on her back, and her right arm is on fire.

Time goes blurry. There's a roar, and thunder on the stairs, and a shout. She's not sure what order it happens in, or who's making the sounds. Then something heavy presses down on her, and she struggles for a second before she realizes it's Aegis, and he's only trying to help her up.

The others are polite enough not to ask. Weiss only quips, "The blood loss isn't a competition, you know," and helps bandage her arm. Yang says nothing.

Blake watches Gloam slink into the room the others are staying in, and catches a glimpse of him hopping up onto a bed where Yang is already sitting. She knows she should try to follow, but she just can't do it. So she wanders back downstairs and half-collapses onto one of the sofas. Her arm hurts, and she hates herself for caring. It's nothing she doesn't deserve. What about his eye? What about _Yang's_ arm?

Of course Gloam doesn't belong to her anymore. If he's gone to Yang instead, that's better than she has any right to ask for. It's her fault she lost him.

Her fault.

She could have taken it back. In the instant that she bolted for the other car, frantic under Blight's hungry stare, she could have taken it back. She knew Gloam was too far away. But she let herself think that maybe he could escape. Adam's sword came down, and he screamed, and she kept running because she was scared. He was scared too, hurt and scared and trapped, and she left him like he was one of her shadows. Just another empty thing she left behind so he could take the hit.

Now he has, and he hates her. It's only fair.

Blake jerks in her sleep. She doesn't remember closing her eyes, or even dreaming, but there's a nasty taste in her mouth and her whole body feels like dead weight. Her ears prick up. Something is moving. Something is lurking by the sofa. She tries to reach for her sword with the wrong arm and her vision goes white.

Aegis' head pops up from behind the arm of the couch, his brown eyes comically wide. Then there's a gravelly sigh.

"Relax, it's just me." Ruby and Yang's uncle Qrow collapses onto the couch across from her and plunks down two glasses. "Drink?" He swirls a bottle of amber liquid.

"Uh... no. Thanks."

"Probably for the best." He fills both glasses anyway and drinks them one after the other, throwing his head back to swallow. "You look like hell."

Aegis huffs.

"No offense," he adds, filling the glasses a second time.

Blake shrugs her good shoulder. "It's fine."

"Nothing you didn't deserve, right?"

It's true, but she still flinches.

"That's what I thought." He leans forward and rests his elbows on his knees. "Look. Kid. I've been there." He extends his arm—it's covered from elbow to fingertips in little white scars, the remnants of dozens of punctures and scratches. "Mine was a real vicious bastard. And yeah, you fucked up. Did a number on Yang."

Aegis growls at him, and Qrow ruffles the fur at his neck.

"Don't give me that, she did. But take it from an old hand at this shit—the more you tell yourself you deserve it, the more they'll attack you. And the more they attack you, the more you figure you must deserve it. Keep going like that long enough..." he lets out a long, pained sigh. "Well. You're lucky if they leave."

"Did you make her go away?" Blake swallows, realizing a second too late that this isn't the kind of question she should ask her closest friend, let alone a man she's just met.

He takes another drink. "Nah. She was an evil little devil, but she was mine."

"Gloam isn't a devil," Blake says, heat creeping into her voice. "He's just scared and hurt, that's all."

"You're right." Qrow gets to his feet. "But you're missing the important thing."

Blake glares at him.

"He's you."

Qrow walks out of the room without another word, taking the bottle with him.

Blake falls back against the arm of the sofa with a groan. She squeezes her eyes shut against the pain in her arm and in her chest, but it's no good. Gloam is nothing like her. It's not his fault he was chained to something awful.

A warm weight settles on her stomach. When Blake opens her eyes, she has to blink away tears at the sight of Aegis staring calmly back at her.

"What are you doing here?" she whispers.

He clambers onto the sofa, making it groan in protest. It's all Blake can do to shift to one side before she's crushed. Then he settles in, and lays a paw gently on her shoulder, just above the claw marks. His other paw tucks her head under his muzzle.

"I have to make it right," she mumbles into his fur. "I just... I don't know how."

The bear touches his nose to her temple, and answers her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby: Flicker the wolf  
> Weiss: Paean the albatross  
> Blake: Gloam the panther  
> Yang: Aegis the bear  
> Jaune: Elixir the golden retriever  
> Nora: Shimmer the grasshopper  
> Pyrrha: Kismet the tiger  
> Ren: Still the praying mantis


	4. To Howl and to Roar

The next morning starts well and ends with a train crash.

Oscar's not even that surprised, at this point. He's still not surprised when in the aftermath, as he's stumbling out of the wreck, he trips over a rock. Then the rock grows a head and bites him, which really elevates this bad day into a form of fine art.

"Gah!" He scrambles backwards. The tortoise gives him a sour, unimpressed look.

"Ah, there you are." An old woman emerges from the train car. She scans their group with flickering mechanical eyes, then beckons at Ruby. "Why don't you be a dear and carry Rue for me. He's not exactly a champion sprinter."

Ruby grunts as she picks up the tortoise, who is apparently heavier than he looks. Then she looks around, bewildered, like she's just realized she has no idea who this woman is and that it's much too late to put the shard back down.

And then in the span of ten minutes, the oddity of Maria Calavera becomes little more than a blip compared to Jinn. She has many awful things to tell them. One of them is this:

* * *

Once upon a time there was a lonely girl, locked away in a tower guarded by a dragon. Or so everyone assumed. They came in their dozens at first, with lances and barbed arrows, to slay the beast. None of them returned. Eventually, they stopped trying.

Until, after years of silence, there came a new challenger. A man wreathed in the flames of a phoenix named Eternity. Ozma greeted the dragon gently, because he was the first to understand that he was not meant to fight him, but to free him. They left there together, the man and the woman walking in the dragon's long shadow, made bright by firelight.

Too little time passed before Salem made her long journey to the gods. Eternity sat heavy on her shoulder, her red-gold feathers molting away like grains of sand falling into the bottom of an hourglass. And as Ozma flickered in and out of life she spread her fiery wings over him, like that could hold this guttering candle steady.

But the gods had their balance with one another, and they would not disrupt it in the name of one petty human. If it caused their creations pain, well, that was what they were made for. Salem had asked for the impossible.

Had she? Oscar isn't so sure. Isn't it disrupted now, in the name of one petty revenge?

Then again, it doesn't really matter. They decided, and there was nothing Salem could do. She was alone with her dragon, and the dying phoenix.

"Why haven't you told me your name?" she asked, her voice dull, like she didn't care about the answer. But when the dragon didn't give her one, she turned her head and snarled at him, "Why?"

He flinched. Salem rounded on him, her eyes blazing. "You know. You've known all this time!"

The dragon shook and cringed and backed away, coiling serpentine around himself.

"Give it to me." She seized one of his horns and ripped her voice raw with the force of the command, _"Give me your name!"_

He struggled—but the name had been building in him for years, decades, and she wrenched it from him. It came from a wound he'd hidden from her, inflicted by a tower door slamming shut. Loneliness festered with time and the dimming of the phoenix's brilliant feathers, swelling around the splinter in his heart. The name. The cure. The piercing and bursting that would drown the world in their rot.

He didn't want to be Calamity. But he told her, and then he was. And they were alone.

Eternity wanted them to live. Salem wanted them to die. The phoenix fought her as she approached the black lake, shrieking and buffeting her with her wings, wreathing them in smoke. Calamity howled. He didn't want to stay here any longer, but he didn't want this.

Salem jumped. But when she surfaced again she still wasn't dead. The shards were gone. And she was alone.

Eternity didn't die that day, or the next. She spent a long time untethered, as shards in those lost days sometimes could. Long enough to watch the return of humanity. Long enough to see an old man walking stiffly out of a cabin, while four young women beckoned to him and smiled.

He looked nothing like Ozma, but it only took a glance for her to recognize the sadness in his eyes. So she alighted on his shoulder as if it was the most natural thing in the world, because it was. He'd had another shard, a frog, but she was already dead and gone. Eternity helped him through his last days and began her search again.

The third time she found him, he had a robin and a destination in mind. He didn't notice how reluctant she was to find out what the woman they loved had become.

Except that she was still there. Unchanged except for the emptiness that her dragon should have filled. They built a life together despite it all—and wasn't it a perfect match, his two shards to her none? Couldn't it work? Couldn't it?

Maybe. But Salem hid her hollowness better than Calamity ever could, and in her years alone on an empty world the poison of it leeched into her bones. He could have tried to draw it out if he'd seen. He could have done something, anything... but the tower is too big to escape, this time.

Their castle burned, and Eternity died. Salem wanted to hurt him, _Ozma,_ not the body he lived in or the robin he'd known only a few decades. So she pierced the phoenix's breast with stone shrapnel. That was it—the cure. The calamity.

It didn't make her feel better.

* * *

This is all they see, because this is all Ozpin knows to hide. But there is more to the story he doesn't.

Eternity died, and the body burned. But there was something left behind in the ash and dust, a tiny egg the color of an ember. Salem picked it up and might have crushed it, but she didn't. The phoenix was his weakness, after all.

That's what they were. Weakness. She didn't need one.

She has one, now. Locked away in an iron cage, in a room that could never be dark in the presence of those fiery wings.

* * *

Calamity never died. He couldn't, when he shared his human's curse. He prowled empty forests until they weren't empty anymore, and watched new life from the shadows. The years and the loneliness twisted up inside him, and the wound grew and grew until there was nothing else left inside.

He didn't want to live, and he didn't want to die. He didn't want Salem. He wanted the poison out of him, and he had the cure. He was the cure. The poison must be shared.

So he snatched mice and cats and wolves, bears and butterflies and birds, and swallowed them whole. And their people screamed and cried and searched the woods and found nothing. They were alone as he was Alone.

He doesn't feel better. Only hungry.

* * *

If their shards are quiet and docile that night, they assume it's because of what they've just learned. And Aegis' mood is the last thing Yang notices, when she finds him curled up around Blake for the second night in a row.

Blake scrambles to her feet and asks if she needs anything. It's been like this ever since their last night at Haven. Like Yang's helpless. _I'll protect you._

"I'm good," she says coldly, and walks away. Aegis gives her a reproachful look and stays right where he is.

There's an awful part of her that wishes he would stay away from Blake. It's the same part that hates the name Gloam trusted her with. The part that wants them separate. But that's not who Aegis is, and it's not who she wants to be, either. She's just so tired...

Gloam is so tired, he won't get up at all.

"Hey." Yang nudges him. His good eye opens a sliver, but he still won't move. "Come on." She pets his head, hoping that will bring a little life back, but it's no good. He doesn't want to get up, and she's too exhausted to push.

Flicker has to drag him halfway across the floor before he finally gets his paws under himself. He's slow and unresponsive, and only moves to get away from people he thinks might try to touch him. Aegis and Paean aren't much better. Rue might be, it's hard to tell what's lethargy and what's normal for a tortoise. Daisy rests on Oscar's shoulder, motionless except for the slow opening and closing of her wings.

(Far away, Mallacht stirs with an old loathing. She tests the air with her wings, her head turning unerringly towards Brunswick, her claws flexing in anticipation of fresh blood. Raven sees this and grabs her by the legs, putting a hand over her eyes and shushing her until she settles.)

There's something wrong here, but trying to think about it is hard. So hard that Yang only remembers there's something she should be wondering when they're already down in the tunnels. Aegis can't follow them—he's just too big, there's no way in hell they'll be able to get him back out. Gloam can make the jump, though, and Flicker insists on coming with him. So Paean stays outside with the bear, poking his head down to watch them through half-lidded eyes as they disappear into the tunnels.

And then, the noise that isn't a noise. More like an ache in the small bones in her head, a vibration that sinks into her and saps her strength. It's awful. Truly awful. But the worse thing, the _worst_ thing, is the quiet plunk of Gloam hitting the water.

He's out cold with his head below the surface. Blake's not much farther, on her side with her eyes staring blankly at nothing. And behind her, a wall of them. Tall and skeletal and empty.

Yang could pick him up. She could pick him up and grab Blake's hand and run to the stairs—

She can't. She can't even stand.

What's the point of any of this? What does it matter when they'll all be dead soon, anyway? Who... fucking... cares...?

Her vision goes dark and blurry. Sound comes from far away, except for one that pierces through the fog—the cold and lonely howl of a wolf.

Flicker sinks his teeth into the fur at Gloam's neck and pulls. His whole body is shaking, his fur plastered to his skin with filthy water, baring to the world how small he really is. He tugs and snarls, and heaves and growls, and he can't do it. Gloam is bigger, and he's as exhausted as the rest of them.

But he's trying, and he makes Yang want to try, too.

She can't walk. So she crawls, and when she can't crawl anymore she drags herself, reaching out towards them. Inch by inch...

And then, there's light.

The Apathy flake away into dust and smoke, and Yang can breathe again. There are more of them—shadows stirring in the depths of the tunnels. She lunges forward and scoops up Gloam, hugging him against her chest as Weiss helps Blake and Ruby to their feet. Then it's up, up the stairs and through the doors and into the open air, away from the flaming wreck of Brunswick.

Gloam won't let go of her. He kneads his claws against her chest—which would be sweet if they weren't inch-long and needle-sharp. She sighs and tries to coax him to the ground, because she's going to have a hell of a time balancing him on Bumblebee. But he shivers, and... fuck it. She wobbles her way onto the road and tells him to hang on tight.

Aegis trots alongside them, keeping level with the trailer so he can bump his nose against Blake's side. And all of a sudden she knows—he's given away that piece of her heart he carries. Her knuckles tighten on the handlebars. He didn't ask her. He never asks her.

Gloam stirs against her chest. His tail winds around her wrist, and the top of his head bumps her chin. He's still shivering. Her throat closes. She's a thief, too, isn't she? But she didn't ask him for that. She shouldn't— _doesn't—_ want them doing any of this.

He opens his one bleary eye and yawns. Unconcerned, as shards often are, with the shoulds and shouldn'ts of their people.

* * *

"Stop, damn you!" Winter snarls. Levee whickers and tosses his powerful head, his ink-dark mane spilling like liquid over his white neck. He's an asset, and a valuable one—she's returned from more than one battle she had no right to survive because she was mounted on his back. He makes up for it by being a temperamental bastard.

She pushes him further into the stall the General set up for her, in the back of her quarters. He snaps at her and she has to snatch her hands back before she loses any fingers.

"Fine," she shouts, and steps back, gesturing towards the door. "Be my guest! Grow wings and fly across the sea for all I care! You can't go to her, because _we_ _don't know where she is!"_

Levee kicks the wall, punching twin holes in the plaster.

Winter turns on her heel and leaves him there. She has work to do, and he's in a distracting mood.

* * *

Yang is touched when Jaune's sister opens her home to them. She really is. It's just that she can't help worrying about having more than a dozen people and almost as many shards in one building.

"Go on," she says, mustering up her best reassuring grin for the others. "I'm gonna, uh..."

Yang looks over her shoulder—at Aegis, who she might have to wedge through the door, and at Gloam, who's fixing her with a flat, unimpressed glare.

"Sorry!" Saphron hovers a little ways inside the door. "I think this will be a little tight. I've never met a shard bigger than Sanctuary before!" Yang can believe it—he's a tawny lion that might have been intimidating if she hadn't seen him rolling on the floor with Elixir like an oversize puppy.

Yang never thought much about how lucky she was to grow up in a house built with a growing grizzly in mind, until now. But in the end, Aegis does fit. He still hasn't gained back all the weight he lost after the fall of Beacon, and a lot of his bulk is actually just fur. There's a tense moment where he gets his butt stuck in the doorway, but a little change in angle is all it takes.

There. Now for the hard part.

"I know," she says, when Gloam eyes the doorway and growls. "There's gonna be a lot of people around, but we can't really help that."

He sits down and grooms himself pointedly. Aegis starts to move towards the door, but Yang puts a hand out to stop him. "Oh, no you don't. The last thing we need is for you to get stuck again."

Yang's focus is mostly on Gloam, but she notices motion in the corner of her eye, from the hallway behind Saphron. Blake steps forward cautiously, hesitantly, and crouches down.

Gloam's ears go flatter, and his back arches. "Hey," Yang says, smoothing his bristling fur. "It's okay. You can hang out with Aegis once we're inside. Sound good?"

Blake's fingers twitch, like she wants to reach out. Gloam notices, and his back legs tense. Yang just manages to grab him before he pounces, and his claws slash through the air a few inches from her face.

 _"Stop,"_ Yang says, pressing him against her chest so he can't leap at Blake. It doesn't matter. Once he's satisfied he's made his point he goes still again, his tail twitching in agitation.

It's Saphron who breaks the tension. "Maybe he could stay in the laundry room?" she suggests. "With... um..." she stops, obviously uncomfortable and a little unnerved.

"That sound good?" Yang nudges him. But he's still reluctant, and she has to say it, or risk him spending the night wandering the streets of Argus. "Aegis and I can stay with you."

His ears flick. For a long moment it looks like he still won't do it, but then he glances over his shoulder and goes stiff. He darts inside, so quickly that Blake has to scramble out of the way, and the door swings shut behind him.

Yang does a double-take as she enters the living room, where a baby is sitting in a play-pen sticking wooden blocks in his mouth. It's not really him that catches her attention, though he _is_ adorable. It's not even the tiny rainbow-feathered macaw sitting on his head. It's the coppery rattlesnake that curls around them both.

"Oh, don't mind him," Saphron says, with a little laugh. "That's just Nave."

When she goes over to say hi, the snake lets her ooh and ahh over the wobbly tower the baby is building. Eventually he starts to move, but only to get a better look at her. He's watchful, but not aggressive.

"Who's this?" she asks, grinning.

"This is Adrian." Jaune leans over the crib and hands his nephew one of the blocks. The rattlesnake climbs onto his wrist and flicks his tongue out. "Hey. Long time, no see!" But as soon as the greeting is over, the snake ignores him and goes back to coiling around Adrian.

"Terra will be home in a few minutes," Saphron tells them. "He'll warm up a bit then."

This turns out to be true—as soon as his person is back in the house Nave starts to explore the room, greeting the new guests and finally draping himself over Saphron's shoulders. Yang still wouldn't describe him as _warm,_ but she gets the sense that's mostly because his face isn't very good at expressing friendliness, or anything besides disinterest and murderous intent. Having a reptile shard must be rough.

* * *

Kismet prowls through a dark forest. He's black and orange, light and shadow, dappled shade on striped fur and green glowing eyes. He's beautiful and powerful and graceful as he bounds through the trees.

The wind is dry. The trees start to crack. There's a spark and a roar and Pyrrha's voice, screaming.

The tiger writhes in the burning undergrowth, his back arching as he claws at his own forehead. It's like a tree growing in time-lapse. Stark white bone erupts from him, curving and forking and branching out into antlers. Then his eyes roll back and the skull of the dead stag rears up, shedding Kismet's skin and glaring with eyes winged in auburn fire.

Jaune wakes with a strangled cry and might have fallen out of bed if he wasn't lying on the floor with a pillow and blanket. He struggles against the hands on his shoulders for a second before he realizes they're Ren's, and mind and body both slump in relief. Elixir whimpers, and Nora shushes her and rubs her belly.

The basement door eases open. "Jaune?" Saphron whispers, peering through the crack for about half a second before Sanctuary shoves past her and almost knocks it off its hinges.

"I'm okay," Jaune says automatically, but he doesn't resist when the lion curls around him and rests his head in his lap. There used to be a surge of embarrassment whenever Sanctuary did this, but now he just presses his face into his mane and hugs him like he had when he was a little kid.

It's not fair.

"Shh." Saphron combs her fingers through his hair. Ren's hand doesn't move from his shoulder, and Nora gathers Elixir into her lap. Sanctuary hums and blinks his tawny eyes.

It's not fair that Kismet had to die like _that._

He wipes furiously at his eyes, struggling to get himself under control. Elixir doesn't try at all, and scampers whimpering to Sanctuary's side. He gathers her under his paw. Nora scoots closer so she can keep soothing her.

It's not fair that Pyrrha gave up everything for a war they can't win.

The horror and frustration don't fade so much as they burn all the fuel out of him. Calm surrounds him on all sides, and he sags against Sanctuary's flank with his eyes blurring closed.

* * *

Morning. The sun shines off the crests of the waves, the hull of an airship, the chassis of the gigantic mecha trying to swat it out of the sky. And, elsewhere, its glow catches a motorcycle, its silent passengers, and the two shards running alongside them.

When Blake walks away by herself, Aegis wants to come with her. There's a pang in the pit of her stomach. She shakes her head and musters a smile. "Sorry," she says, patting his head, "but you aren't very good at stealth, either."

He chuffs and stamps his feet. Not an argument—just nerves. There's something very unsettling about a grizzly bear acting nervous.

Gloam growls. She glances back at him, feeling her palms start to itch and sweat, as he bares his teeth to the bear. Aegis grunts. The panther hisses at him one last time before slinking away from Yang and Bumblebee, on down the path, and glancing over his shoulder.

Blake swallows hard and follows him into the trap.

_No._

Her hands are slick on the bars of the tower as she clambers away from a sword.

_How is he here?_

She climbs until she runs out of places to go, and backs up to the railing.

_Where is Gloam?_

Blake kicks out and the railing digs into her back and they fall. Together.

She dashes through the woods, her heart in her throat, her coat falling away. A shadow paces her. She wishes he wouldn't. He should run away—it's only fair.

They stop on a cliff by a waterfall, where she has nowhere left to run and Gloam has nowhere left to hide. She can feel Adam's eyes on him as they back away, her and the panther, until the three of them are standing in a triangle.

He lowers his sword. "We don't have to fight, Blake."

She can't look at Gloam.

"It's time."

"...Don't." Gambol Shroud trembles in her hands.

"What?" Adam takes a step forward. Then another. "Should I let you hand him to that human as a pet? If you're so eager to give him away, I'll take him."

Blake feels it again. The apathy numbness. She opens her mouth to say it—not yes, _never_ yes, because Adam doesn't deserve him. Just like Blake doesn't deserve him. If anyone deserves him, it's Yang. He should be hers, shouldn't he?

_But..._

But what about the crow that tore Qrow's arms to shreds? What about Weiss, who lived in terror of Paean as a child? What about Pyrrha and the scratches on her face, the only time Kismet ever drew blood? Did any of them deserve it? And don't they still love their shards anyway?

Is it selfish that she wants Gloam to love her anyway?

Maybe.

Does it matter?

"No."

He's scarred and tattered, hurt and skittish and scared. _But._

"He's mine." The whisper is lost to everyone but her. There's a low rumbling in her ears, and she shouts over it, "He's mine!"

A tremor rolls through her. When it passes, Gambol Shroud is steady. "He always has been and he always will be, because I want him. I want him and I'll fight for him and I won't let you take him again! He's not worthless, and _neither am I!"_

Her final cry rings into the silence. And there comes an answering roar from the clifftops as Bumblebee careens off the edge and knocks Adam to the ground. Yang lands in between them, her left fist clenched to hide the shaking.

Another roar. This one from Aegis as he comes charging towards them. When he reaches the edge of the cliffs he leaps off and plummets, cracking the ground where he lands at a gallop. Their aura flashes, and he bares his teeth in challenge.

Then comes a sound Blake hasn't heard in a long time. A gravelly rumbling deep in Gloam's chest—his roar. His challenge.

It's four on one. It didn't have to be... but he made his choice a long time ago.

And when it's over, Blake falls to her knees and then to pieces. Arms wrap around her. She feels Aegis soft and solid at her side. And something else—familiar wiry muscle and short fur, made rough with scars.

She tugs Gloam close and hugs him against her chest like she used to when she was little. He smells the same. Like a forest just at the turning point between autumn and winter, day and night. He starts to purr, and the feeling rolls through her like a wave. Yang rubs her back. Aegis lends her his warmth.

It hurts like hell. She can't even begin to come to terms with what they've just done. But right now, in this golden instant, she is calm. She is whole.

"I won't let you go again," she chokes out. Her hand finds one of Yang's. "Either of you."

"I know."

"I'm sorry. I'm so, _so_ sorry."

"It's okay."

"It's not."

Metal fingers curl under her chin, gently raising her face. "Aegis always thought so. He's the best of me. I'm just catching up."

Aegis snorts and rolls onto his back, watching them expectantly. Blake doesn't mean to laugh—it's like she's a balloon of grief and hope and guilt and relief and he's just popped her.

"Humble, too," Yang jokes, and rubs his belly.

Blake is on the edge of collapse. She's feeling too much of everything, exhausted in body and mind, but she can't leave it here. So she leans into Yang's side and hugs Gloam a little closer and says, "He's not, you know."

"Huh?"

"He's not the best of you. He _is_ you."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby: Flicker the wolf  
> Weiss: Paean the albatross  
> Blake: Gloam the panther  
> Yang: Aegis the bear  
> Jaune: Elixir the golden retriever  
> Nora: Shimmer the grasshopper  
> Pyrrha: Kismet the tiger  
> Ren: Still the praying mantis


	5. The Jar

Leonardo's office was built with a lioness in mind. Wide doors, wide windows, plenty of space behind his desk. James was blessed with an insect shard. His stag beetle, Valor, didn't require any massive adjustments to the room. No special perches like birds would need. But he wanted to give her _something_ to make the space hers, so he put a carved driftwood branch on the corner of his desk for her to perch on.

It sits empty, now, as it has since the fall of Beacon. He still can't bear to throw it away.

A headache builds behind his eyes, as he explains to Qrow Branwen and his flock of children what he _thought_ was quite obvious. Namely, stealing Atlas military technology is bad. He doesn't seem to be getting through to anyone except Winter.

"You _stole—"_

She doesn't get to finish. There's a clattering sound outside, and then a mighty crash as the door to his office flies right off its hinges and topples to the ground. James leaps out of his chair, his hand going to his gun.

Levee drops back to all fours and trots casually into the center of the room, like he hasn't just kicked a door down. He stops next to Weiss and peers at her for a few seconds before letting out a satisfied snort.

"I apologize for the interruption," Winter grits out, giving the stallion a glare that completely fails to chasten him. "But I must have misheard. You can't _seriously_ have decided to risk your life doing anything as reckless and irresponsible as—"

Weiss doesn't let her finish, either. She steps forward and grabs her in a hug, and Paean lands on one of her shoulders. James can't help but smile.

After the meeting, he surprises himself and Qrow by giving him an embrace of his own. It's a lot like hugging a post at first, which James should have expected, but after a moment he relaxes and rests his hands on his shoulders.

"I'm sorry. I know it's not the same, but... I do know it sucks to lose them."

James gives him a last clap on the back before letting him go. He doesn't know much about Mallacht—he only has her name because Ozpin mentioned it in passing. But he's seen enough to know he'd rather be alone than burdened with a shard like her.

* * *

"Weiss?"

Her sister pauses in the hallway, and the others stop to wait for her.

"I'd like a word," Winter says, nodding to Penny to get her to lead the rest away. Weiss stays put. Paean does not.

Weiss stands straight as her friends, and her shard, walk away. Winter is hyperaware of Levee behind her. He snorts impatiently and stamps one of his back legs, and she shoots him another glare.

"The General told me what happened with Paean."

"Oh. That." Weiss glances over her shoulder, but the albatross has already turned the corner with her team. Winter's heart sinks.

"When I saw you two in the office, I thought... I assumed he'd come back. But that's not true, is it?"

"No, he didn't." And somehow, impossibly, Weiss smiles. "I did."

Out of everyone, _everyone_ in the world, Winter never thought this would happen to Weiss. Not to the little girl who always kept her soul so close to her chest, no matter how hard he pecked her. Levee tried to kick Winter, once. Just once. She hasn't been able to relax around him since.

"Be careful," she says, even though it's futile. Even though Paean is already gone. "You know what happens when they get out of control."

"This is different."

Her chest tightens. Weiss has never argued with her like this. Her little sister would always hesitate, then get defensive before she finally came around. This cruel certainty is so much worse.

"It doesn't look different."

"Paean is where he's supposed to be. I don't know how to explain it, but it's... it's like how I know the sun will rise. It just is."

Winter's mouth opens and closes. She can't find the words to argue. She's not even sure she should.

"It's good to see you." Weiss smiles one more time like she hasn't been torn apart at all, and turns to follow her shard.

* * *

Qrow tries not to miss Mallacht. She made it easy, and gave him lots of practice. There must have been times when she didn't dive at him and harass him whenever she had the chance, but he doesn't remember them.

He misses _something._ There's that ache in the pit of his stomach, and Tai thinks it's because she's gone, but Qrow can fill that with other things. Not drinking, anymore. But he can ruffle the fur at Flicker's neck or pat Aegis' shoulder, and it's... not the same. Not really. The ache is still there.

He misses something he never really had, and so the feeling has nothing to attach to. What good memory is he supposed to yearn for? In his imagination, her beak is always as red as her eyes.

It's Slán-Eág who feels real and tangible. The way he huddled up under Qrow's cloak whenever Raven was feeling uneasy and didn't want anyone to notice. He was always there, in the corner of all their eyes, rubbing his head against Summer's hand and pushing himself into the crook of Tai's arm. Missing him is bittersweet.

Mallacht is bitter all the way through.

So that's his equilibrium. Qrow's long since made his peace with not having a shard—Tai needed Slán more than he did, and he's better off without Mallacht. He can teach himself to long for the one that was actually good to him, and forget the one that wasn't. Simple. Until a bird with a beak damn near half its body length lands on his shoulder and won't move for love or money.

"Shoo," he hisses under his breath, giving it a discreet flick.

Dealing with Slán really ought to have taught him _that_ doesn't work. So the bird is still watching him when Clover comes round the corner and whistles. "Fortuna!"

She tilts her head and explodes into motion, fluttering onto her human's wrist. His hand dwarfs her. Her body is all gemstone blue and rusty red, and something about the way she tilts her head reminds him of Phobos. It's kind of funny how the littlest bird shards always act like apex predators.

"The hell's that?" Qrow grunts, so that Clover won't talk about his shard sitting on someone else's shoulder.

"She's a kingfisher." Clover gives him a long, searching look. Qrow's seen it before. They take him in from head to toe, cataloging all the little places he might've hidden his shard. He's used to ignoring the pity tinged with disgust that comes when they realize there's no motion from any of them.

"Mine's an amoeba."

Clover snorts. "Yeah, well. Even so." He clucks his tongue, and Fortuna returns to her perch on Qrow's shoulder.

"I'm not taking her," he snaps.

If Clover is bothered, he doesn't show it. "No," he agrees. "You're borrowing her." And he walks away before Qrow can argue.

He swallows hard and risks a glance to his right. Fortuna looks back, shuffling her little clawed feet.

"Fucking birds," Qrow grumbles under his breath.

* * *

Paean doesn't move from Weiss' shoulder once on their approach to the manor. She reaches up to touch him, taking a deep breath as she traces his downy feathers. Flicker paces at her side, occasionally bumping his head against her leg as they walk. Aegis and Gloam bracket her on either side like an honor guard.

And then the door opens, and Whitley's stare cuts through it all like it's not even there. There's an edge to his usual polite contempt. Something cutting in his stare. But the most important thing, she doesn't notice.

He bows at the waist, but his smirk turns it mocking. "I see these are the thieves you told me about. Tell me, dear sister, which one of them does that pigeon of yours belong to now?"

Weiss bristles. "I told you, it's nothing like that." But she's angry, so it comes out sounding defensive. She doesn't doubt it—she hasn't since she met up with them again. It was his choice... but Paean has become a little bit Ruby's and a little bit Yang's and a little bit Blake's, and that's all her family will see. Even Winter, and especially Whitley.

She breaks away. Winter and the General disappear into a side room, and the others disperse around the ballroom while she heads for the stairs. But then he cuts in front of her, and it's all she can do to fight down a frustrated snarl.

"Do you want something?"

"I'm trying to figure out why you're letting them keep him," Whitley says. He's smiling, but there's a coldness to his stare she's never seen in him before. "Do you enjoy it? Like mother?"

 _"Excuse me?"_ She takes a step forward.

"What?" He holds his arms out helplessly. "I'm just trying to understand, sister. If he's not going to obey you anymore, you could at least try to hold on to some dignity. Get him a nice cage."

Weiss might have slapped him, but before she gets the chance a screeching guest stumbles backwards and spills an entire glass of wine over his front. He glowers at them both and grits out, "Pardon me," before slinking away to change.

And Weiss still doesn't notice.

Up the stairs and down the hall, her pulse pounding in her ears like she's a child again. But she isn't, and Paean is with her, and Flicker is still padding softly in her wake. She smiles at him and ruffles his fur.

His office is as cold as she remembers. She eases the door shut behind her, and she's about to turn around when a voice behind her says, "You... you did it."

Weiss freezes. Then she turns, very slowly, keeping a hand on Flicker's head to ground herself. "Mother."

Willow stumbles forward, one hand on her husband's desk to steady herself, the other holding a bottle. It's not wine, but something clear. The sort of thing Qrow used to drink, which seems like a bad sign. Her eyes are wide, and her mouth half-open in an expression of... awe.

"You got him back."

Weiss swallows. "I... not exactly."

"He's here." She reaches out. Paean flares his wings and hisses at her.

"Stop that," Weiss snaps at him. Flicker whines and starts pawing at her leg. She winces. "I'm sorry," she tells her albatross. "But that's not fair."

"He's..."

"Don't touch him," Weiss says. She tries to keep her tone gentle, and fails. There's no dressing it up—it's a harsh thing to say. But Paean won't let her pretend.

"How?" Willow whispers. "How did... how..."

"It's complicated." Weiss runs her fingers through Flicker's fur again, to stop them from shaking. "I need to see his terminal."

"There's a password," her mother mumbles. She reaches into her pocket and draws out a scroll. And then it's Weiss' turn to be in awe.

In ten minutes, Weiss has everything she needs to bring her Father down, but she almost doesn't care. She's holding the proof in her hands, not of his crimes but of some spark that's still alive inside her mother.

"What helped me with Paean won't help you with Torpor." She reaches out and takes her hand. "But... I think he's like us. I think... all he wants is for you to fight for him."

Willow's eyes well up. "Thank you."

Paean stretches out his neck, tentatively, to touch his beak against her cheek.

"I should go..." Weiss says, now reluctant rather than impatient.

"Yes." Willow leans forward. "Please... when you do... be kind to your brother."

"He's made it very clear he wants nothing to do with me."

"Of course not. You left him alone with us." She looks up to meet Paean's eyes. "And you got him back."

"What?" Weiss blurts, but her mother is already leaving. "What does that have to do with—"

It clicks.

"No." She backs up a step, towards the desk. "No, no, no..."

She must have seen movement in his pockets. The one by his chest... it was flat. It was flat and she didn't notice, but Echo must have been hiding somewhere else. She's always hiding.

There's a noise. So faint she can hardly hear it. She turns her head, her mouth going dry, until she's facing the portrait behind his desk.

Behind it, there is a safe. And inside the safe... the half-imagined droning of the wasp.

Her breathing is coming too fast. Flicker catches her mood and whines, his ears flattening, while Paean perches on her shoulders with his wings spread, poised to attack. She doesn't know the combination, but it's easy enough to find. And if she goes far, far back in the video, to the time right after she left for Beacon, when it was still paperwork in there...

A click. Her knuckles go white on the dial, and then she steels herself and pulls and comes face to face with her childhood nightmare. The nameless wasp flexes her stinger, her black eyes fixed on Weiss, and slams herself against the glass.

In the corner of the safe, curled up in a ball as far as she can get from the insect, is Echo. She won't come out, won't do anything while the terror is still right there. Weiss has to touch the jar.

Paean, as if he's sensed her intentions, flares his wings and lets out a screech. "I'm not exactly _thrilled_ at the prospect either!" But she doesn't have a choice. So she grits her teeth and grabs it in her right hand. It's so much lighter than it should be.

"Come on," she whispers, reaching out to Echo. "I'll take you home."

Needle-sharp teeth sink into her index finger. Weiss pulls back with a yelp, staring in disbelief at the blood beading and running down her hand. "What...?"

Weiss makes another grab for her, but only gets a bloody thumb for her trouble. "Please come out. I just want to take you to him."

The ermine slinks forward, her belly low to the ground, her teeth bared. Then she leaps. She's tiny, little more than a ball of fluff with a face. Weiss has faced down Grimm literally thousands of times her size.

Those Grimm didn't land on her face and start scratching her through her aura. She yelps and stumbles backwards. Her back foot snags on the carpet. And then she goes down, and watches in horrified slow motion as the jar slips through her fingers and goes careening off towards the desk. It strikes the corner, and shatters.

The tapping stops. And in its place is the steady droning of her flight as the wasp rises from the broken glass, testing her wings.

She's an insect.

Only an insect.

Except that if Echo can get through her aura like it isn't even there... and if it's true what she's read, on her scroll late at night with the blankets pulled up over her head, holding a trembling Paean against her chest... if she's as much of a parasite as her human...

She snatches Echo up in her arms, and this time the ermine doesn't resist. She curls herself around Weiss' neck like a living scarf, her little heart fluttering against the human's pulse point. Paean lets out a piercing cry and mantles his wings. Flicker stays behind her, crouched low, growling at the insect as she begins to circle towards them.

"Go!" Weiss shouts, and bursts through the door. As soon as the wolf is through she slams it shut and bolts down the hallway, not stopping until she has several more locked doors between her and the shard. Then her back hits the wall and she slides all the way down, gasping for breath, Paean and Flicker both nuzzling at her sides.

She reaches up to her throat and gathers Echo into her palms. "You're safe, now. Go on." Weiss tries to place her on the floor and flinches when the ermine bites her _again._

"Stop doing that!"

Echo scampers up Weiss' sleeve and hides herself under her jacket. A tiny ball of warmth tucked away against her chest. Almost like...

"Oh, don't you _dare—!"_

But it's too late. She won't be moved, and Weiss has just set the wasp even her _Father_ wants locked away loose in the manor, and if nothing is done about the heating grid a lot of people are going to die. "Don't get comfortable," she says, getting to her feet. As soon as there's a lull in the action, she'll get Whitley alone and give Echo back to him.

In the far distance, a dark haze appears on the horizon. No one is worried about it. Yet.

* * *

Qrow falls to his knees in blood-soaked snow. He didn't mean to. He didn't want this.

He never does.

A hand on his chest confirms what is blatantly obvious. Clover is dead, and it's his fault. He thought—he wanted it to be them against Tyrian, he tried to make it them against Tyrian, but the stubborn _idiot—_

He clenches his eyes shut. How pathetic is this? What, is he trying to make it Clover's fault? He panicked and he wanted to get to Ruby and Yang and the others, and he made a bad call, and now someone's dead. His breathing goes ragged as he starts to sob. He wants to undo it. He always wants to undo it. But he can't, it's too late and he can't take it back.

He wants Mallacht. She would know how he should hurt for this.

There's a flash of blue in the corner of his eye. Qrow scrambles backwards, away from Fortuna as she hops up her human's chest. She shudders, shedding feathers, and turns her head towards him. He runs, abandoning Harbinger—there's so much blood on it, how could it ever get clean again?

The kingfisher is faster. She flits onto his shoulder and rests there, such a slight weight for such a horrible thing he's done. "I'm sorry," he chokes out. "I didn't want..."

She doesn't scratch him. Doesn't claw at his face or peck at his eyes. She just leans over and presses her little head against his cheek.

"I know. I know it's my fault."

Her wings flutter helplessly.

The soldiers come to take him, and Qrow lets them. He's next to Robyn, who's in the same prison transport even though she didn't do a damned thing wrong, tear-streaked and bloodstained and holding the shard of the man he murdered. And for some reason she sees this and lays a hand on his shoulder. Her hawk rubs his head against his arm.

Fortuna won't move no matter what he does. She huddles up beside his neck and croons into his ear, like he isn't a murderer.

_Fucking birds..._

* * *

The airship takes off. Storm clouds gather, and Atlas sweeps away underneath them. They're almost a mile from the school, now. Two miles.

"Wait!" Weiss jolts to her feet, clutching a hand against her chest. She can feel the warmth of the ermine there, and through the window she spots a streak of black and white. It terrifies her because it isn't a Grimm.

They land ahead of Levee. He gallops towards them with his dark eyes rolling, foam streaking his neck and chest. Then he skids to a halt, rears up onto his hind legs, and kicks out. Weiss ducks under his hooves and wraps her arms around his neck. A tremor runs through him, and he relaxes.

"Can he fit on the ship?" Yang asks.

Maria snorts. "I don't think _you_ should be the one worrying about our carrying capacity. We'll manage."

There's no argument to be made. Weiss makes a token attempt to get him to go back, but Levee ignores her, and she's almost glad. Winter kept him in a stall in her quarters. Always separate. It would be so easy to—

She really wishes she could trust the General not to do that. But she can't stop thinking about the look on her sister's face when Levee broke into his office, the empty seat where Oscar should be, the steel door of a safe. Weiss isn't sure she can trust anyone to look after Levee now, except the stallion himself.

They take off again. Weiss sits next to Penny, who's staring blankly at the shivering puffin in her lap. She hasn't said where he came from, but it's not hard to guess. He has a vague, slightly vacant look in his eyes, but he fluffs himself up as if to stand guard over the new Winter Maiden. Heartspring shuffles closer and drapes a wing over his back. His auburn feathers are speckled with white, now, like a light dusting of snow.

"I feel like a thief," Weiss admits, as Atlas fades into the fog and Mantle begins to loom around them. Echo pops her head out of her collar to look around, then burrows back down again when Penny leans forward to look at her.

"You're not," Ruby says.

"I know."

"You're keeping them safe, that's all. Taking care of them until you can give them back. They go where they wanna go, you know? You can't make them stop."

Weiss looks down at her hands. She's not sure how to say what she's thinking—she's told Yang a little of it, but it's hard to explain without telling them about the safe and the jar, and she can't talk about that yet. When Paean left she knew instinctively that it was different. It felt different. With this... she can't tell.

You can't make them stop. So did Father just let Torpor do what he wanted, or did he steal him? Was it the wasp? Did she do something to him?

Would Levee be in a jar right now, if he were smaller?

The horse snorts and stamps his feet. He tosses his head and his mane spills over his neck, dark and silky. His black eyes fix on her. He's easily as evil-tempered as Paean at his worst, but she's never been afraid of him. Not when she was a little girl, and not now that there are ermine bites at her fingertips.

She smiles. "No," she decides, petting his nose. "Not even if you were only an inch high."

* * *

There's a smell on the air.

It tugs at something. The last scraps of him that haven't yet rotted away. A smell from a long time ago, when he didn't need to eat.

Calamity unfurls. It takes a long time, because stone and earth have closed over him, twined with tree roots. They fall as he gets to his feet and shakes the dirt from his ears, taking others with them as they go. He blinks at the stumps they leave behind, which are as thick around as his middle. Thick with decades of growth.

He was asleep for a long time, this time. Maybe he's dying after all.

The dragon sniffs the air, properly this time. There's no mistaking it. She's left that dead and broken place and come back to the real world. His head swings around until it's pointed directly towards her. Due north.

Calamity unfurls his wings. Joints creak and crack with disuse, and air whistles through the tattered membranes, but they will hold him. He launches himself into the air and flies in a straight line, ignoring the world below. Someone shoots at him. He ignores this, too. He even ignores the shards he spots far below him, fleeing in instinctive terror.

He will go to her. Then maybe he will try to kill her, or maybe she will try to kill him. It doesn't matter.

The poison must be shared.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ruby: Flicker the wolf  
> Weiss: Paean the albatross  
> Blake: Gloam the panther  
> Yang: Aegis the bear  
> Jaune: Elixir the golden retriever  
> Nora: Shimmer the grasshopper  
> Pyrrha: Kismet the tiger  
> Ren: Still the praying mantis


End file.
